


The Kids Are Alright

by miggyfan



Series: The Kids Are Alright [1]
Category: Magnum P.I. (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Past Rape/Non-con, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Romance, Smut in chapter 21, Tags May Change, Teen Angst, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:28:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 22
Words: 43,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26174227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miggyfan/pseuds/miggyfan
Summary: Juliet and Thomas are sixteen years old, and in the same high school club journal. When some teenage girls start disappearing. The last victim being Amanda Sako from their own school , our favorite duo team up with their friends to stop the kidnapper. Thomas think he's a great investigator, Juliet just don't want to get suspended, Tani totally ship Magnum and Higgins together, and katsumoto just want to stay out of troubles, but it's gonna be difficult with those two danger magnets.
Relationships: Juliet Higgins/Thomas Sullivan Magnum IV
Series: The Kids Are Alright [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2124174
Comments: 95
Kudos: 200





	1. The disappearance of Amanda Sako

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic and english is not my first langage, so I hope you will enjoy this story, despite of all my mistakes ! Saddly I don't own them, they all belong to CBS !

As usual, Juliet was alone in the high school journal club room, she was finishing her work on the last article, everything was ready to get published except for the photos that Magnum was supposed to provide, and of course, he was late.

She sighs loudly, closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose, trying not to think about him.

Why was she the only one working anyway ? Where the bloody hell were Noelani and Jerry ?

Oh yeah…she had no social life, she could clearly hear Tani , her best friend, teasing her in her mind, for her lack of « fun » activities.

Since Juliet’s arrival in Hawaii a year ago, the only friends she had, were from the journal, and Tani the bubbly cheerleader. Tani was the first one to talk to her and introduce her to Thomas Magnum and his very disparate band. At least they were nice to her, even if she didn’t really let them get too close to her. The only one who weren’t letting Juliet go, with her sometimes cold behavior, were Tani and Magnum. The two very extravert teenagers just kept teasing her, and dragging the uptight british girl into whatever mischief they liked to get into.

She liked them, but she learnt the hardway that being too gullible could end up really bad, bad enough to put her in hospital for weeks.....No....She berated herself, thinking about this only make things worse, her hands started to shake and she bite her lip hard enough to draw blood. She didn’t want to go back to that dark place of her mind, nothing bad was going to happened, she was safe here in hawaii…

When suddenly the door opened, and a disheveled Thomas Magnum made his entry in the club room. Still wet from his shower, his school uniform clinging to his muscular chest, his football jersey from his previous training thrown over his shoulder, Magnum dropped his backpack on a chair next to her, and just lie down on her desk, with his face down with a loud moan.

  * Magnum : « I’m dead Higgy …. »
  * Higgins : « no you’re not, and if you were actually dead, at least you would have a good excuse for being late. »



Replied Juliet without even raising her head to aknowledge him. she continued typing, ignoring the handsome sixteen years old boy trying to get her attention. Really, Magnum’s charm had no effect on her, not at all, her heart didn’t race each time he smiled to her, or got too close to push one of her rebellious blond curls behind her ear. 

She wasn’t jaleous of all the girls constantly trying to seduce him, Mr « ray of sunshine Magnum » was quite popular despite being a second year, he was the first sophomore to be the quaterback on the football team, and she wondered why the hell was he in this journal club only filled with nerds like her.

Magnum turned himself on his side, his head resting on his hand, like he was casually lying down on a beach and not invading her personnal space. His warm eyes scanned her face with curiosity, when he noticed the blood on her lips. A slight frown chased his smile, he cupped her face gently, his fingers slowly grazing her cheek.

  * Magnum : « what happened ? » and just like that, his playfull expression turn into something dark and dangerous
  * Higgins : « what ? Oh! that ? it’s nothing, I just bite my lip a little too hard…
  * Magnum : « hard enough to bleed ? »



Juliet felt naked under his scrutiny, she backed of a little to escape his touch. Magnum let his hand down sensing he was making her uncomfortable.

  * Higgins : « seriously Magnum, it’s nothing, just a little cut » she said with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. She nervously searched for a handkerchief in her bag, trying to avoid his eyes, she felt his chocolate iris burnt into her, Magnum wasn’t goin to let this go.
  * Magnum : « you know you can talk to me Higgy, whatever it is, or whoever is bothering you….maybe I can help, they say I‘m a good listener »



His smile was warm and sincere, Juliet felt the wall around her crumbling, she really liked Magnum, maybe a little too much for her own good. He was a nice guy with a complex personnality, not just a regular joke, teachers saw him as a troublemaker wasting his potential flirting with girls or pranking his friends instead of studying. But she knew he was smart, he just had troubles with authority. And he was slowly worming with way in her hardened heart, despite all the distance she tried to maintain between them.

The only things he was serious about were sports and photography, he told her he wanted to be a reporter like his tutor Robin Masters. She wondered how did he end up living with the rich price pullitzer writer. The privilege kids of their pricey private school gave Magnum a hard time, when he arrived last year, just like her. It was probably the reason why they became friends in the first place. It was them against the world, in this school full of stuck up rich kids, who never lost an occasion to remind them that they weren’t welcome in their little unfair world. He was the poor mexican boy fostered by a rich guy, the charity case, she was the uptight nerdy british girl, and they didn’t belong there.

But those kids learned the hardway, that Magnum wasn’t a push over, even if he wasn’t a big guy, he knew how to fight. And he fought dirty, not wasting his time in intimidation, only calculated moves to break bones and neutralize his opponent, fast and efficient. He fought like someone who’s been throwing punches all his life to protect himself and to survive. After his mom death he spent two years in foster care, before Robin found him, and life on the streets during his many fugues, taught him how to fend for himself, unlike those overprotected jokes who were trying to bully him.

Soon after, he entered the football team, and his skills owned him the quaterback post, he moved like a cat and nothing could stop him. He became rapidly coach Mac Garrett’s favorite. And just like that, they forgot about his poor background, football turned him into Mr popular, especially with the cheerleaders.

Magnum was gratefull for Robin Masters’s protection, and he didn’t want to let him down, so he worked just enough to pass his classes, and tried to stay out of trouble, even if the first few fights he was involved with, nearly got him fired.

Thanks to Mr Masters lawers, Magnum could stay in this school with her, he brought her back to reality by gently touching her hand.

  * Magnum : « earth to Higgins ! are you still here ? I thought that I lost you for a minute ! » He said with a smile.
  * Higgins : « I’m fine Magnum, don’t worry… what I need is for you to get of my desk and give me those damn photos to finish the article ! »



With a sigh, Magnum got up and went to pick his camera in his bag.

  * Magnum : « I’m not done with you Higgy, I know something or someone is bothering you, and I’m a good investigator… I’m going to found out what or who is messing with my favorite girl.
  * Higgins : « I thought Abby was your favorite girl ! Be careful Magnum, I don’t wanna end up in a catfight because of you !



Magnum smile at her retort, showing his cute dimples, sitting back on her desk.

  * Magnum : « Abby is my girlfriend, not my favorite girl ! You know, you have a very special place in my heart Higgy » he said wiggling his eyebrows.
  * Higgins : « lucky me….I’m not sure this place is doing it for me Magnum. »
  * Magnum : « you want to be my girlfriend Higgy ? »



She turned her head so fast to look at him, she nearly broke her neck.

  * Magnum : « huh ! …now I got your attention ! You’ve been staring at that laptop, since I got here ! »
  * Higgins : « shut up Magnum ! And stop making nonsense ! Seriously ! »



She was now aware of how close he was to her, still with his annoying cheshire cat smile and a fresh smell of shampoo. Juliet’s face went up in flame, she was blushing like crazy and all she wanted to do was disappear.

She was save by Noelani and Jerry suddenly barging into the room.

  * Noelani : « thank god you’re here ! You’d better have those damn photos Magnum ! »
  * Jerry : « dude ! we’ve been looking for you everywhere ! »
  * Magnum : « what ? I was here, working ! »
  * Jerry : « Pffff….working ! this is how they call it this days … »
  * Noelani : « yeah ! I swear to god, if you don’t stop flirting, I will turn this journal, into a tabloid and put you two lovebirds on the front page ! »



This time, Magnum looked offended.

  * Magnum : « first of all, I am not that kind of guy ! I would never cheat on my girlfriend ! And we were having a very platonic and friendly conversation. »
  * Noelani, pushed him of Higgins’s desk : « yeah ! Yeah right ! soooo platonic ! you look at Juliet, like my dog looks at my father’s steak ! now go give Jerry those photos ! And don’t come back until your work is done ! »



She slammed the door of the black chamber on the two guys‘s faces, and turned back to sit next to a very stunned Juliet.

  * Noelani : « those boys !!!!... »



Juliet smiled, shaking her head at Noelani’s dramatic sigh, she was glad, she was not the only girl in the journal.

  * Noelani : « did you learn about Amanda ? »
  * Higgins : « Amanda Sako ? »
  * Noelani : « yes ! apparently she’s been missing since Friday night. »
  * Higgins : « what do you mean missing ? »
  * Noelani : « I don’t know the details but, I saw her parents at the principal office, her mom was crying, and there were cops too. Jerry told me they put an amber alert for her. She really disappeared… »
  * Higgins : « oh my god ! that’s awful ! The last time I saw her was after the game, she was so excited to go to the party at Abby’s house. Do you think something happened during the party ? »
  * Noelani : « I don’t know, it’s not like I was invited … »
  * Higgins : « you know who was invited because he’s part of the cool kids and the football team ? »



They both turned their heads toward the door to see Magnum and Jerry emerging from the black chamber.

  * Noelani and Higgins : « MAGNUM !!!! »




	2. Interrogating Magnum

\- Magnum : « Ok ! Ok ! Calm down girls » Magnum laughed  
« I ‘m not saying I don’t like the attention, but you’re kinda scaring me right now …

Noelani grabbed Magnum ‘s arm and pushed him to sit on a chair with a desk lamp directed to his face.  
\- Noelani : « We have a few questions for you Magnum, and you’d better cooperate ! » said Noelani, slaming her hand on the table, making her best cop impression.

\- Higgins : « you know they don’t actually use those lamps for interrogations Noelani ! Except maybe in movies ? » said Juliet rolling her eyes.

\- Magnum : « what is this, huh? Cute cop and cuter cop?  
Jerry laughed and Noelani gave him murderous glare which stopped him right away. Slightly blushing Juliet continued « Magnum, this is serious, it’s about Amanda, Amanda Sako do you know her ? »

\- Magnum : « yeah a little… Can someone please, explain to me what is going on ? »  
Juliet took away the lamp from a very reluctant Noelani, who looked rather disappointed by the lack of staging in Magnum questionning.  
\- Higgins : « We wanted to ask you about the party last Friday, at Abby’s house, you’re were there right ? »  
\- Magnum : « yeaaaah….And…what exactly do you want to know ? »

Noelani explained to Magnum the disappearance of Amanda. How she never came back home after the party, and now the police and her parents were worried she could have been a victim of the kidnapper, who had already taken away 3 girls in 2 months.

\- Higgins : « do you remember Amanda at the party ? Who was she hanging out with ? Did anything strange happened during the night ? »  
\- Magnum : « seriously I don’t know ! I don’t remember anything special, she’s a quiet girl, she came with a friend of Abby, Malia …something….a cheerleader. Malia wanted to convince her to join the team, but she wasn’t interested. »  
\- Noelani : « was she drunk ? did you saw her with someone in particuliar ? »  
\- Magnum : « no she wasn’t, she’s not the type to get drunk during a party, I told you, she’s a quiet girl, she looked bored, out of place, like she’d rather go home instead of being there. »  
\- Higgins : I’m not surprised, Amanda is a nice girl, we are in the same yoga class, she would have never gone to that party if it were’nt for Malia. »  
\- Magnum : « and what do you mean by that ? Don’t forget that your best friend Tani is a cheerleader ! and so what ? she’s not a nice girl ? or this kind of judgment is reserved for my friends ? »  
\- Higgins : « of course not….sorry Magnum, we’re just worried about Amanda. »

\- Magnum : « it was just a party, you guys need to relax a little, if something had happened to her, it wasn’t at Abby’s house. »  
\- Jerry : « ok ! ok ! what happened when everyone left ? »  
Magnum grinned like the cat who got the cream « what do you mean after…. Abby and I were left alone at her place and we … »  
Noelani slapped his arm and Juliet rolled her eyes « Not that ! Idiot ! seriously Magnum ! we don’t care about your sex life ! »  
\- Jerry : « I do ! » said Jerry laughing, he whispered « we’ll talk about it later bro ! »  
\- Magnum : « ok ! ok ! no need for violence ! everyone left by car, and the ones who couldn't drive called an uber ! »  
\- Higgins : « and Amanda ? did she left with Malia ? »  
\- Magnum : « yeah, Malia wasn’t driving they took an uber, a black sedan, I didn’t pay attention to the plate, sorry…Fuck ! now I’m starting to feel guilty, I should have taken them home ! »  
\- Higgins : « it’s not your fault Magnum, nobody knew what was going to happened… »  
Magnum closed his eyes a sigh « we need to do something ! anything to find her ! »

\- Higgins : « yes but we lack informations about the others victims, about the modus operandi… »  
\- Jerry : « oooooh ! somebody had watched too many criminal minds episodes ! »  
\- Higgins : « shut up Jerry ! »  
\- Magnum : « guys ! guys ! I have an idea ! I know a way to get more informations about those cases. We need an inside man who could get us those files »  
\- Higgins : « you don’t mean the police reports right ? » replied Juliet with a frown.  
Magnum just wiggled his eyebrows in response and suddenly Juliet felt really worried.

Later, Magnum went back home still feeling guilty about Amanda, he really whished he could have done something for her.  
What had happened to her while he was spending the night with Abby ?

What had happened to all those girls ? No bodies were found, and he wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or not. Were they being tortured ?  
Used for human trafficking ? Were they already dead, buried somewhere ? 

Magnum knew enough about the cruelty of this world, and the fact that it wasn’t a safe place for vulnerable young kids like Amanda or him.  
He learnt the hard way that adults weren’t always as benevolent as they seemed, and that trusting them, could get you baddly hurt or dead.  
Robin Masters quietly studied his godson, his slouch shoulders, lost eyes, and lack of interest in his plate, and he knew that something was bothering his usually happy go lucky teenager.

\- Robin : « Is something wrong Thomas ? »  
\- Magnum : « what ? No ! No I ‘m fine ! »  
\- Robin : « fine, like you when you got hurt during training and hid it to us until Kumu found out, or fine like when you nearly got fired for fighting at school ? »  
\- Magnum : « fine like I did my homework, didn’t fight at school and didn’t get anyone pregnant ! »  
Kumu choked on her glass of water, nearly spit it out on the table, laughing at Magnum reply. « Thomas !??? »

Robin laughed, not offended at all, he was so used to his godson quick wit and sarcasm, he knew that his sassy way of talking back was a defense mechanism. And that it was further more evidence of his distress, and not plain disrespect.  
\- Robin : « My god ! you behave exactly like your father, back in the days, you have your mother’s pretty face and latin charm, but you’re all salt and vinegar like your dad. This is the reason why he was always in trouble for talking back to his superiors in the army »

Magnum pouted a little at Robin response, because like always, his provocations never worked on the famous reporter, Robin was as usual, calm and attentive toward him.  
When they first met, he kept trying to run away, he outsmarted the property's security several times, and even after those many fugues, the writer never got angry or violent with him, like his precedents foster families.  
He always talked to him with respect and affection.

They had the same dry sense of humour, and he often used his lethal weapon against him by sharing memories about his parents.  
Things that he didn’t knew about them, about their young years, and Magnum wanted to know more about them, and just for that, maybe Robin wasn’t like the others after all, maybe he could stay a little longer. 

Part of him was still waiting for the other shoe to drop, still afraid that something bad was going to happened to him, or to his new family. After a few years in Robin’s nest, he stopped trying to ran away, but the fear to be abandonned again or rejected, was a shadow still following him everywhere.

\- Robin : « are you worried about the kidnapping of that girl at your school ? »  
\- Magnum : « how do you even know about that ? Amanda was not even in the news, they don’t know if it’s related to the other cases ! »  
\- Robin : « I’m a reporter, what do you think I do all day, I work ! and I have my sources ! »  
\- Magnum : « so…are you going to share those informations with me ? » replied Magnum with a smile.  
\- Robin : « of course not ! the only thing you need to know is that the police is taking care of the investigations and you’d better stay away from it ! are you sure you still want to share your transportation with your friends, maybe Kumu or the chauffeur could drive you to school, just to be safe ? »  
\- Magnum : « Nope ! no driver please ! We ride with T.C to go to school, and he drives like a grandma, so really it’s safe ! the last thing I want, is to arrive at school in a limousine, you don’t have to worry about me. »

\- Robin : « ok ! I trust you to be safe on this one, but if anything happened….it will be me or Kumu and her turquoise vespa to go to school ! »  
Magnum bang his head on the table with a dramatic groan, making Kumu and Robin laughed.  
This kid make definetly life interesting thought Robin, he was going to trust him to make the right decision, and if he stumble, he was gonna make sure to be there to catch him.


	3. The inside man

\- T.C : « so that’s your plan ???!!! asking Katsumoto, the Gordon Katsumoto who hates your guts, to steal his father’s files about Amanda ? Dude ? Are you nuts ?  
\- Magnum : « first of all, Gordon doesn’t hates me ! …and… it’s a very good plan ! if it works, we could help with the research and find Amanda.  
\- Rick : « you’re kidding right ? OMG ! We’re all going to jail ! stealing from a cop ? That is the worst plan you ever had ! I can’t go to jail Magnum ! my dad would literally kill me !  
\- T.C : « your dad’s a mob boss, you will be safe in prison, nobody would be crazy enough to mess with Icepick’s son » replied T.C with a laugh.  
\- Rick : « Yeah ! and maybe my father doesn’t want me to follow his steps ! this is why, he’s harder on me, than with anybody else ! seriously Magnum, that is the the worst plan you ever came with ! »  
\- Higgins : « he’s right Magnum, we can’t temper with the evidences, we could geopardize the investigations. »  
\- Magnum : « or maybe not steal it, but, just make a copy or take some photos.. »  
\- Higgins : « it could work that way, but before you need to convince Katsumoto… »  
\- Magnum : « easy, Gordie’s my buddy, you’ll see… »  
Higgins rolled her eyes at Magnum’s confidence. With his signature smug face, Magnum got up and went to sit next to Katsumoto, who was eating alone, which was a good thing, for the conversation he wanted to have with the very serious baseball player.

Without even raising his head, Katsumoto crushed all Magnum’s hopes of negociations : « whatever you’re asking for, the answer is No ! »

Okay …maybe it won’t be that easy, thought Magnum : « Gordiiiiie ! How you doing my friend ? »  
\- Katsumoto : « we’re not friends ! »  
\- Magnum : « come on …of course we’re friends, remember when you save me during that fight… »  
\- Katsumoto : « and I got suspended for it ! my record were spotless before I met you, you are a walking magnet for troubles. My dad told me to stay away from you ! »  
\- Magnum : « speaking of your dad, I have a favor to ask, it’s really important. »  
\- Katsumoto : « nope, not gonna listen… »

Gordon finished his food, picked up his tray and left a very disappointed Magnum with an annoyed sigh. From afar, Magnum saw Rick and T.C laughing exchanging money, those two idiots had bet against him.

Okay, Gordon was playing hard to get, but Magnum was a very determined person and he wasn’t going to give up yet.

He went back to see his friends, pouting a little about his defeat, when he noticed that Higgins wasn’t with them anymore.  
\- Magnum : « can you stop laughing ! » he said a little annoyed  
\- T.C : « dude ! that was ankward ! I told you it was a bad idea !  
\- Magnum : « ok, ok I tried….but I’m not giving up yet, I’ll find a way…you’ll see !....by the way, where’s higgy ?  
\- Rick : « still following her around like a puppy ? Rick and T.C exchanged a knowing look, amused by their friend’s embarrasment.  
\- T.C : « no wonder Abby is so jaleous of her, you spend all your time chasing after her, seriously ! you need to make up your mind and decide once for all, who you want to date, Abby or Juliet ? »  
\- Thomas : « We are in the same class and in the same club, this is why we spend a lot of time together, we‘re just friends ! »  
\- Rick : « of course ! Jerry and Noelani are in this club journal too, I don’t see you chasing after them ? »  
\- T.C : « stop teasing him, the puppy is getting upset !.....your looooovely friend went to the clubroom, she was talking about newspapers to deliver or something… »  
Magnum quickly thanks his friends, and pick up his bagpack to « not chase » after Higgins.

Those two idiots were insufferables, but they were his best friends. This is probably why, they were, endlessly, teasing him about Juliet. 

Of course he liked her, maybe even more than he was ready to admit, but he knew there were zero chance, Higgy would agree to go out with him.  
So why risking loosing their friendship, over something like that ?  
He felt like there was some kind of tension, each time someone tried to get close to her.

And he saw so many guys getting rejected by Juliet, when she first arrived, that he gave up on asking her out.  
Being friends with her was enough, right ?

Speaking of Juliet, he spotted her walking along the corridor, carrying a huge pile of newspapers, nearly as tall as her.  
He wondered how did she managed to maintain the balance of those papers, without falling down.

And because she was Juliet Higgins, she did it gracefully, and like it was the easiest thing in the world.

Higgy always felt self conscious about her physic, complaining about her curly hair, or her too small figure. 

Sometimes girls were really complicated. To him, she was the prettiest thing he ever seen. 

He liked her dark hazel eyes, that kept changing coloris, following her moods, or the weather..

He dreamt so many times of letting his fingers, go through her beautiful long blond hair, sadly imprisonned in a braid, that reach the small of her back.

He thought her very perky little butt, looked amazing in her sport shorts, and watching Juliet run in those shorts, kept disturbing him during P.E.

But don’t ever tell her that ! Because he likes eating with his teeth, thank you very much.  
And there’s no doubt, she would punch him in the face, if he was crazy enough, to voice those thoughts.

\- Magnum : « Hey Higgy ! need some help ? »  
\- Higgins : « no thank you Magnum, this is the last delivery, so really, it’s okay. »  
\- Magnum : « come on Higgy, let me help ! »  
\- Higgins : « if you wanna help, maybe open the door for me, and don’t touch my papers ! »  
\- Magnum : « ok, ok » replied Magnum, while opening the glass door, and involuntarily, letting a mischievious breeze, blowing up her pleated skirt, revealing a sight that Thomas Sullivan Magnum the 4th would never forget.

Juliet was petrified, the unforgiving wind kept blowing, and raising her skirt, above her panties, for all the people in the corridor to see.

A few girls laughed at her misfortune, some guys whistled, enjoying the view.

She felt like she was paralyzed, unable to react properly.  
Still clutching those damn papers, like her life depended on it. 

Disturbed by the wind, she started to loose her balance, while Magnum quickly closed the door, to help her holding the papers.

As Thomas was trying to stabilize the pile in her arms, another student reopened the door and her skirt went up again.

Juliet closed her eyes mortified, blushing profusely, and Thomas did what seemed the more reasonnable thing to do at the time, at least to him.  
He dropped the papers and hold down her skirt, by putting his hands on her hips, and her butt.

\- Magnum : « it’s ok Higgy ! I got you … »

« He got me… » She thought, those reassuring words, sounded different in her mind, making her remember very dark memories, things she tried so hard to forget.  
« I got you » she kept hearing his voice in her head, and it wasn’t a nice sixteen years old boy talking to her, but someone older, someone scarier…

Juliet felt her blood ran cold in her veins, she couldn’t think or breath anymore, her body went rigid, and she slapped Magnum so hard, that she felt like her hand was breaking.  
She backed away from him, like he was on fire and crashed in the wall behind her.  
Feeling trapped, she ran away toward the clubroom, leaving a very shocked Magnum in the corridor.

The laugh of the student who reopened the door, brought Magnum back to reality. « Dude ! For a slap like this, at least you should have made a pass at her and grabbed those damn panties ! »  
Thomas was on him so fast, the jerk didn’t have the time to react.  
\- Magnum : « what the fuck did you say ?

Magnum pushed him hard against the wall, making his head connect with the concrete, in a loud bang ! his arm crushing his throat.

The poor guy couldn’t even talk, his lips were moving, but no sounds came out.

A huge hand gently touch Thomas’s arm, trying to coax him into letting the poor guy go.  
\- T.C : « T.M… let him go….you’re strangling him !.... Thomas ! Let him go ! ….THOMAS ! »

Magnum dropped his arms, breathing hard, trembling with rage. 

The guy ran away from them like the devil itself was after him, stumbling in his escape.

Rick searched his eyes to see if he was okay, nobody in the corridor were laughing anymore, people walked past them without looking.  
\- Rick : « you’re okay Tommy ? »  
\- Magnum : « yeah, thanks guys ! without you, I would have beat that jerk to death ! »  
\- Rick : « no you wouldn’t, because you don’t want Mr Masters to come back to school with all his lawyers and traumatize the principal again ! » he replied with a smile.  
\- T.C : « I think the guy would shit his pants if he ever saw your foster dad again ! Dude ! they walked in here, like they owned the place ! like the freaking avengers ! »  
\- Magnum : « are you sure you’re not talking about YOUR DAD Rick ? »  
\- Rick : « nope ! my dad is more like Thanos ! »

T.C, Rick and Magnum laughed, Thomas was gratefull for their friendship, they always knew how to make him feel better. They helped him picking up Juliet’s papers, scattered all over the floor.

They were his best friends, his crew, his ohana like kumu often said. And everybody, with a functionning brain, in this school knew not to mess with them.  
T.C because he was the biggest guy in the place, adults included.  
He was 6 feet 4, and towered over everybody.  
His huge mass of muscles was as deadly in football, as in a fight, but Magnum apreciated him, because he was the kindest person he ever met, and always teased him for being a giant teddy bear.

Rick on the other hand, was an energetic blond teen, with an happy go lucky attitude, that could fooled you into thinking that he was just an airhead and not a menace.  
But Magnum knew that, those blue eyes were hiding an history of violence, that no kids his age should know about.  
Rick was the son of Franck « icepick » Hofstetler, and if you care about your own good, pissing him of was a bad idea.

\- T.C : « T.M, just go see if she’s okay, we’ll take care of those newspapers »  
\- Magnum : « you’re sure ? »  
\- Rick : « you’re still here ? just go Tommy ! »  
Magnum picked up his bag and ran to the club room with a worried look in his eyes, Hoping Juliet would be fine.


	4. moving forward

Magnum knocked softly on the door, the curtains were drawn and he couldn’t see anything from the outside.  
When no response came, he let himself in the club room, to look for Juliet. 

The room was in the dark, and no curly blond head in sight.

Most of the time, Higgins was a very serious girl, calm and focused, not the type to overreact like today.  
He could understand how the situation could be embarrassing for her, or anyone, really.  
And without that jerk humiliating her, it probably would have been only a little incident.  
Just thinking about it, made Magnum’s blood boiled in his veins. 

The worst was that, this idiot dare to even think about touching Juliet.  
The thought of someone assaulting his friend like this, made him want to pummel the guy into the floor. 

Thomas was glad she didn’t hear him, talking about her in a such revolting way, because what he saw in her eyes at that moment, was already way too dark for his own taste.  
Sadly, he knew pretty well, what this kind of look in children eyes meant. 

Magnum saw it often enough in foster care, or on the street. Sometimes, he forgot that it could happened anywhere, even in a supposed nice home, with a nice family.  
You really don’t know what’s going on behind the wall of a house, until something happened, and this is why his trust was so hard to get. 

Once again, Magnum was glad that Robin found him, the journalist probably saved his life back then.

\- Magnum : « it’s me Higgy ! don’t shoot me, I came in peace ! »  
Juliet was nowhere in sight, and the silence was starting to creep him out.  
\- Magnum : « I just wanna talk Higgy …. »  
\- Higgins : « Why ? I hurted you… »

Her trembling voice gave away her position, and Magnum saw her feet behind the desk.  
He crouched down to sit behind the table, next to her, while she raised two worried hazel eyes to study his face.  
Juliet flinched when she saw the bruise already forming on his cheek.

\- Higgins : « I’m so sorry… »  
\- Magnum : « for what ? …for this ? It’s nothing really. »  
\- Higgins : « my hand is litterally printed on your face. You tried to help me, and I hurted you in return »  
\- Magnum : « It’s ok ! you were upset and I touched you without your permission, so in my book, I am the one who should apologize. »

Juliet gave him a pityful smile, she wondered what did she do to deserve a friend like him.  
Thomas put his hand open on the floor next to her feet, like an invitation. 

Juliet took the hint, and intertwined gently her fingers with his.  
With a sigh, she put her head on his shoulder, searching for comfort and finally letting her guard down.

Magnum felt some tension leaving his friend, her body was warm against his, and he felt guilty, thinking how much, he wanted to kiss her right now.

\- Magnum : « so ! …pink polka dots, huh ? »  
Magnum playfully bumped into her shoulder, making Juliet laughed.  
\- Higgins : « Oh god ! kill me please ! »  
\- Magnum : « I’m impressed ! that is a bold choice ! I never suspected you could be this wild ! seriously….pink polka dots, with a blue plaid pleated skirt ? Have you ever heard of wearing matching prints ? »  
\- Higgins : « what are you ? the fashion police ? » She replied rolling her eyes.  
\- Magnum : « nope ! but I have good taste ! »  
\- Higgins : « no you don’t ! » she replied laughing  
\- Magnum : « Maybe, but I can’t be worst than Rick, and I made you smile, so …mission accomplished ! »  
Juliet studied his handsome face, his dimples and his signature smile. His boyish charm was so hard to resist. If she wasn’t so messed up, she would have fall for him easily.  
\- Higgins : « thank you Magnum… »  
\- Magnum : « for what ? »  
\- Higgins : « for being my friend, for not pushing… »  
\- Magnum : « yeah…I just wanted you to know, that whenever you’re ready to talk, I’ll be there…and remember that I won’t judge, there’s nothing that could change my mind about you. We’re friends, and like Rick and T.C you’re stuck with me. »  
\- Higgins : « thank you…..but I’m not sure I can talk about it…. I’m just worried I’m going crazy like my mother… »  
\- Magnum : « your mother is not crazy !... she‘s just sick. At first when we first met, you spent your time ignoring me or lecturing me….

It wasn’t easy climbing up those walls you built around yourself, but we made it, we’re friends and we talk more now. 

Little steps Higgy ! Believe me I know what’s like to be hurt and to trust noone, because you’re scared…..

Being scared is not a shame, most of the time, it keep you alive, but in the end, I made new friends, I have a new family, it was hard, but it was worth it. 

I don’t know what’s was so traumatizing that you went so far away from your home in England, and why just you and your mother, why did your father and brother stayed back there ?....

You don’t have to talk about it….but it could help…when you’re ready…I’ll listen, I’m the leaving proof of it, and I have the scars to prove it ! We’re survivors Higgy. You need to be proud of that and not ashamed. »

Higgins was baffled by his maturity, most of the time he acted like a four years old, and now she couldn’t even recognized him.  
He must had gone through hell after his parents died, but he seems so hopefull, even after experiencing the worst of humanity.

\- Higgins : « who are you and have you done with Magnum ? »  
Thomas laughed, at least if she was teasing him, it meant she was feeling better.  
\- Magnum : « I talk a lot with Kumu, she’s the best, you should talk to her, she help me through a lot when I arrived in Hawaii… »  
\- Higgins : « oh ! your nanny ! »  
\- Magnum : « she’s not my nanny ! she take care of Robin’s nest when Robin is not here ! I’m sixteen ! I don’ need a nanny ! » replied Thomas offended.

They both laughed, Magnum was glad the frown and the paleness was gone from her face. A knock on the door brought them back to reality.  
They heard Rick telling them, in a slightly alarmed tone that Abby was coming to the clubroom, and it would be a good idea to get out of there, before she would find them alone , in the dark….

Thomas helped Juliet up, still holding her hand, he had a hard time letting her go.  
Abby was starting to annoy him of with her jaleousy, there was nothing to fear about, wasn’t it ?

Juliet squeezed his hand before leaving him with a shy smile.

Maybe he needed to be honnest with himself, maybe he should break up with Abby, she was nice and pretty, but he couldn’t stand her attitude with Juliet.  
He never witnessed it himself, but Tani told him, that she was always mocking her behind his back, and Tani warned him that if his girlfriend ever put Juliet in trouble, she would obliterate her. 

Magnum really didn’t want a pissed of Tani to fight with Abby, she wouldn’t stand a chance against the boisterous girl, and this was the kind of attention that Juliet would hate, all that because he wasn’t honnest with his feelings.

Abby walked down the corridor in rapid steps, her pony tail bouncing behind her like a whip. Magnum didn’t like the expression on her face, she was already fuming.

\- Abby : « where is Juliet ? » she said menacingly  
\- Magnum : « why ? »  
\- Abby : « I need to talk to her, is it a problem ? »  
\- Magnum : « just let her go Abby, she really don’t need you to annoy her right now »  
\- Abby : « why are you always on her side ? you’re always defending her, when I know she’s trying to separate us ! »  
\- Magnum : « you’re doing a good job yourself, you don’t need Juliet for that ! »

Abby was taken aback by his retort, usually Magnum never spoke to her like that, he was always trying to reassure her that there was nothing going on between him and Juliet, always smoothing things around.

She didn’t like the change in his attitude, maybe she pushed him too far. Confronting her in front of him was a strategic mistake.

\- Abby : « come on Thomas don’t get mad ….I just want you for myself, you can’t reproach me to love you too much ! » she tried to cajole him, taking his arm to cuddle him. 

When he took his arm of her, she knew it was over…

Thomas was a cuddly bear, he loves putting his protective arms around her, he rarely get mad, but when it happened he was dead serious. 

Abby complained a lot about Juliet, and Thomas always listened to her, trying to see her point of view. But right now, he was not even trying, he blatantly rejected her.

\- Magnum : « I’m sorry Abby, I don’t think this is working between us… »  
\- Abby : « you’re not breaking up with me ! not over her ! when you told me so many times that there wasn’t anything between you two! »  
\- Magnum « there wasn’t, I ‘ve never cheated on you ! never ! but I wanted to be honnest with you, I like her, and even if she doesn’t feel the same way, I can’t lie to you anymore ! Juliet doesn’t even know ! »

Abby was fuming, nostrils flaring, her face so red, that Magnum was starting to worry about her, she looked like she was going to explode.  
But no explosion came, no screaming, no fighting, not even crying.

Abby sighed dramatically, closing her eyes, taking a few seconds to calm herself. 

When she reopened her cold blue eyes to study him, he had the strange feeling that maybe she wasn’t such a nice girl after all, he saw a scary cold determination in her eyes that left him uncomfortable.

\- Abby : « I hope you made the right choice Thomas, but in my opinion, she doesn’t have what it takes to make you happy ! you’ll regret this Thomas ! »

She made a U turn to leave, not waiting for his response, her glorious pony tail still bouncing behind her.  
Magnum sighed loudly, feeling like a big weight was lifted from his shoulders, if he felt so relieved after breaking up with her, maybe it was the right choice after all.

Unknown location :

Amanda was handcuffed to a bed, she was in the dark and could barely see around her. 

The gag on her mouth was making it difficult for her to breath, she tried to calm herself and breath through her nose, panic wasn’t going to help her to get out of here.  
Amanda tried to concentrate on the noises around her, to get informations on her surroundings. 

She was in an old room, the small creepy sounds of old plumbing gave away an impression of an abandonned house. No windows, but a small vent, too small for her to get into. 

Amanda closed her eyes, fighting her tears, as she felt like the first hope of escaping this place was being ripped away from her. 

She pulled hard against her handcuffs, but only managing to hurt her wrist even more, the bed post was made of iron bars, another trial to overcome, she thought, trying to convince herself that she was strong enough to survive this.  
She bit her lip in frustration, she was not going to cry.

It smelt like woods and mold, and she could hear, her labored breathing, but also another one....calmer…. barely audible….someone else was in the room with her.

Amanda turned her head toward the sound, she could see a door now, little by little, her eyes were getting used to the darkness. Her heart began to beat faster. There was a shadow next to it, he was there the whole time ! Observing her. When he suddenly moved toward her, she started to scream…..


	5. undercover mission

Juliet couldn’t believe she agreed to this ! 

She was riding dangerously fast on Tani’s scooter, and her very energetic friend was having a blast slaloming between cars.  
Each time they took a turn, the damn scooter swerved in a way that was defying gravity.

\- Higgins : « you know you don’t have to drive that fast right ?!! we’re not late Tani ! TANIIIIIIIIIIIIIII !!!!!!! »  
The cheerleader laughed while taking a turn so fast, that it made the scooter lean so low, that Juliet screamed during the whole swerve.  
\- Tani : « OH MY GOD ! That was so awesome ! »

Juliet didn't have the strength or the energy to scream anymore, she just closed her eyes, holding onto her friend and waiting for death to take them. 

Tani gave her the fatal blow, by stopping her scooter in an epic bike slide, worthy of any fast’n furious movie.  
The british girl opened her eyes hesitantly, and no, she wasn’t in heaven, but in the close neighborhood of Gordon Katsumoto.

Juliet wasn’t the praying type, but she definitly thanked god and all his angels for watching over them during this death ride.

-Tani : « Magnum ! did you see my bike slide ? pretty badass right ? »

Thomas who was following them on Kumu turquoise vespa, couldn’t stopped laughing. 

Juliet was trying to regain some dignity by readjusting her clothes and hair, all ruffled by the wind.  
Her face was white as snow and her legs were trembling nervously, but she still tried to maintain that defiant look to show that she wasn’t scared.

-Higgins : « I’ll be the one driving on our way back Tani ! »  
\- Tani : « Nope ! sorry Jules, but nobody but me drive my baby ! I’ll drive slower if you want, I promised ! »  
\- Higgins : « after that ride ! no way ! I don’t trust you anymore ! »  
\- Magnum : « I can take you back home if you want Higgy ? »  
\- Higgins : « you don’t mind ? »  
\- Magnum : « of course not ! I can’t let you to suffer with psychobike here ! »  
\- Tani : « HEY ! »  
\- Higgins : « thank god ! » she sighed dramatically, while Tani and Thomas bursted out laughing.

The two girls headed toward the front door of Gordon’s house, while Thomas was hiding into the bushes next to a small window, connected to the basement of the Katsumoto’s home.

The plan was simple according to Magnum, the girls were supposed to interview Gordon’s dad, and distract him and his family, while Thomas sneaked into the basement to take pictures of Amanda’s file.

Magnum previously spent a few days observing the cop’s house, and he knew that he stayed a very long time down there, probably working on the case from home.  
So he convinced Juliet and Tani to act as some kind of decoy, while he was collecting informations. 

Of course Juliet lectured him about how dangerous it was to trespass in a policeman’s home, but in the end, with a lot of persuasion from him and Tani, she finally agreed to participate to their undercover mission.

Juliet and Tani were cheerfully introduced to Gordon’s family by Mrs Katsumoto, she was really excited to see those two lovely girls visiting her son, who was according to her, way too serious.

Juliet took her journalist role to heart, and asked a lot of interesting questions, studying the cops reactions to each one of them. 

Even if he really didn’t gave any informations, she asked if he had any recommendations to ensure the students security, if there were places they should avoid, or what kind of behaviour or outfits could trigger the kidnapper, if they had a profile yet ?

Mr Katsumoto was impressed by how relevant her questions were, and Gordon’s mom was in love with the polite tone and the british accent.  
Gordon, on the other hand, wasn’t bying it at all. 

He kept scrutinizing them like a hawk, especially Tani, who was hiding her nervousness behind a big smile.

When he stood up to leave the living room, Tani elbowed Juliet in panic, wondering if Thomas was done already with his photos, because the last thing she wanted, was to get caught helping a friend, sneaking into a cop’s house.

In the basement, Magnum was so focused on watching the photos of the victims on the wall, that he completely lost track of time.

He had all the photos he needed, but he kept watching the gruesome crime scenes, trying to see if there was patern in common between the victims.

Magnum nearly screamed in horror, when two hands suddenly grabbed him by the neck. Gordon put his hand on his mouth, just in time to muffle him.

\- Gordon : « shut your mouth ! you idiot ! »  
\- Magnum : « for fuck sake ! are you trying to kill me ? I nearly had an heart attack ! »  
Gordon wanted to strangle Magnum, that jerk never listened to anyone, and this time, it wasn’t just a fight against bullies, he could seriously messed up his father’s case.  
\- Magnum : how the hell did you got in here ? The door was locked !  
\- Gordon : « there’s another door connected to the garage, and do I need to remind you that this is MY house ?!!! get out of here ! right now ! »  
\- Magnum : « ok ! ok ! just don’t tell anyone … »  
\- Gordon : « of course I won’t ! because of all your bullshits, I will be the one in trouble ! »  
\- Magnum : « why ? »  
\- Gordon : « OUT !!!! »

Magnum put his camera back in his bag, and jumped through the basement window. 

He smiled, wiggling his eyebrows at Gordon, who gave him a murderous glare and closed the vent behind him.

Okay, he was really pissed, but he didn’t exposed him to his father, so it was a good sign right ?  
He definetly started to win him over, thought Magnum, while running towards his vespa.

A few minutes later, the girls joined him on the road, Tani was driving at a normal speed for once, Thomas could hear her complaining at the slow pace, and Juliet threatening her to tell Junior that she had a crush on him, if Tani ever try to go faster again.

\- Magnum : « I thought you wanted to ride with me on the way back ? »  
\- Higgins : « you sure, you don’t mind ? »  
\- Magnum : « I told you it’s okay ! really ! »  
\- Higgins : « okay, we’ll switch at Tani’s home »  
\- Tani : « I don’t need you to escort me home, you two lovebirds can go on your ride home now. »  
\- Magnum : « you’re not going home by yourself Tani, girls are disappearing right now. »

Thomas was dead serious, after seeing those photos, he couldn’t imagine that killer getting his hands on his friends. They weren’t dealing with just a kidnapper, this guy was a real serial killer, and HPD was trying to keep it under the radar. 

What he saw in the Katsumoto’s basement, was beyond morbid, only two bodies were found, and the way the killer mutilated those girls was seriously disturbing.

Magnum wanted to forget about thoses images and think about something else, something nice, like Higgins riding with him on Kumu’s vespa.

The wind in her long blond curls, her arms tight around him, her breasts pressed against his back…Damn ! He was so gone, he didn’t think, it would be so hard to resist his feelings for her.

When they stopped in front of Tani’s house, Magnum was already making space behind him on Kumu’s vespa, he didn't expect her asking this question :

\- Higgins : « can I drive ? »  
\- Magnum : « WHAT ? »

Thomas was taken aback by her request, first because he thought she was afraid of the scooter, but apparently it was just Tani’s crazy driving skills, and second, there’s no way he could ride back with her sitting between his leg, with his hands around her very small waist and his crotch so close to her butt.  
His dick twitch in his pants, just by thinking about it. 

\- Magnum : « HELL NO ! »  
\- Higgins : « oh…ok… »  
Fuck !!!! he said it out loud…thought Magnum.

Juliet flinched a little, and Thomas immediately regretted his abrupt response.

Sometimes he forgot that, if she did gave an impression of confidence, most of the time, it was mostly about school and abut how smart she was.  
Juliet was usually ankward and insecure around her peers. 

She never asked for anything for herself, because she thought that people didn’t care about her.

\- Magnum : « I mean…I can’t let you drive it because I promised Kumu, that I was the only one to drive it, she threatened to feed me to the sharks if I ever broke that promise…sorry Higgy. » babbled magnum, scraching his head in embarassment  
\- Higgins : « it’s ok, I understand… »

He didn’t know what to say to make her feel better, and the last thing he wanted, was to get a hard on, while she was so close to him.

Tani was watching them with a big smile on her face, she gave Magnum a knowing look, and dragged Juliet away from him, shaking her head in amusement.

Magnum was mortified, he felt like she knew exactly what he was thinking about.

Tani like all his friends, always teased him about his relationship with Juliet. 

Everyone thought they were made for each other, and really he couldn’t disagree with them, but he also knew that Juliet wasn’t ready, and that she had things to overcome first.

Tani led Juliet toward her house, walking slowly to push her scooter in the alley.

\- Tani : « come with me little padawan, I need to talk to you »  
\- Higgins : « little what ? »  
\- Tani : « seriously ! we need to work on your pop culture’s references, padawan : jedi student, star wars ? ....okaaay….nevermind….so ….Magnum is about to take you back to your place, aaaand…. »  
\- Higgins : « and what ? »  
\- Tani : « and he’s in love with you ! for god sake !»  
\- Higgins : « he’s not !....and he has a girlfriend ! »  
\- Tani : « they broke up a few days ago… »  
\- Higgins : « and you didn’t tell me ?! »  
\- Tani : « I thought you weren’t interested ? »

Juliet opened and closed her mouth, but no words escaped her lips, completely stunned by Tani’s revelations. 

\- Higgins : « it doesn’t matter….he would never want a girl like me… »

Tani’s heart broke a little a her words, Juliet turned her face to avoid her eyes, the dejected look in her eyes said it all. 

\- Tani : « and what kind of girl are you Juliet ? Tell me, because all I see, is a cute and smart one, who thinks that she’s not good enough when in fact, she is, and he’s already in love with you godammit ! You don’t even have to court or seduce him, because he’s already crazy about you ! All I want now, is for you to relax, let him take you home and see what happened….maybe he’ll kiss you, maybe he won’t, just don’t panic and call me afterward, he won’t hurt you Jules, I know him, he’s a good guy, really…»

Tani hugged her friend in a warm embrace « you’re gonna be okay, I promised, and if you’re feeling ankward or embarassed, just tell him how you feel, talk to him, he’s probably freaking out just like you, he’ll understand, believe me. »

\- Juliet : « I really hope you're right, because I don't think I could survive if he reject me. » replied Juliet with worry in her eyes.

\- Tani : « You really don't have to worry about that Juliet, I think that he had always been in love with you, since the first day you met, really ! » still overwhelmed by Tani's words, Juliet nodded and hugged her best friend before heading back to join Thomas who was waiting for her. She sat behind him on the bike, hoping that he didn't notice how flushed her face was, she hooked her arms around his waist, secretly enjoying the warmth of his body against hers. 

The ride back home was quiet and soothing, with just the low rumble of the bike and the caress of the wind on her face. 

Juliet was surprisingly comfortable and held onto him without refrain. 

The feel of the hard muscles of his back was amazing, and she was so glad that he couldn’t see her blushing furiously because of their closeness.  
She felt so good against him, that she didn’t want the ride to stop. If only they could stay like this forever…

When he slowed down in front of her house, she didn’t let go right away, being so close to him was so wonderfull and she wanted this moment to never end.  
For once she didn’t feel scared or threatened, she felt safe and …  
\- « comfortable ? » asked Magnum with a smile, he stopped the scooter, and Juliet froze, like she got caught the hand in the cookie jar. Was he reading her mind ?  
\- Magnum : « don’t let go ok. » And without waiting for her response, he hooked his arm under her knees and lift her from the scooter to give her a piggy back ride to her place.

Juliet laughed out loud, surprised and amused by his gesture, she held on to him even tighter. 

Only Magnum could make her feel happy and carefree like that. 

When they arrived at her door, he let her legs down, she stood up just behind him, and she stayed like this for a few seconds with her arms still around him.

\- Magnum : « still not ready to let go huh ?» he whispered in a rough voice, he covered her hands with his, she was trembling slightly, and he tried to comfort her by gently caressing her hands.

Juliet burried her face in his back, he was so warm and smell so good, she closed her eyes and whispered : « I don’t know if I can face you without freaking out »  
Magnum grabbed her hand and put it above his heart to make her feel how fast it was beating : « do you feel that ?... You’re not the only one who’s scared. »

Juliet clutched his shirt tightly at his words, Thomas let her hand rest there a moment, and then untangled her fingers slowly, to kiss them one by one. « I really like you Juliet Higgins, and if you don’t want this, just tell me and I’ll stop… » 

He turned around still keeping her hand on his heart, he bent down to put his forehead against hers and gently pushed a rebellious curl behind her ear. 

He tenderly graze her lips with his, asking for permission, and when she opened her mouth, he slipped his tong inside and kissed her deeply, slowly, savouring the moment like it was the last.


	6. hot and cold

The softness of her lips against his, the slow dance of their tongs together, was the best feeling in the world thought Magnum. 

He brought his hands to her face, lacing his fingers in her hair, gently caressing her cheeks with his thumbs, he couldn’t get enough of her.

Juliet let him slowly map the inside of her mouth with his tongue.  
She moaned in pleasure with each stroke of his fingers against the sensitive skin behind her ears. 

Abandonning her hands on his hard pecs, she could still feel the fast beatings of his heart.

Magnum had waited so long for this moment.  
Probably since the first day they met, hoping to be more than a friend to her. 

Until he understood after her first panic attack, when he grabbed her shoulder from behind without warning, that getting close to her, was going to be so much harder than he thought.

He didn’t planned this, he just wanted to take her back home, almost giving up hope for more than friendship between them, he didn’t think she would abandonned herself in his kiss like this.

Magnum didn’t dare bringing her closer to his body, even if he was dying to feel her warmth against his chest, he let her take control of the sweet battle of their tongues, diving into her in ecstasy.

When they both come up for air, Thomas smiled when he saw how dilated her pupils were, and the flush of her skin. 

He wanted her swollen lips again, he imagined himself peppering small kisses on her neck, living a trail from her shoulder to the little mole under her ear.  
God ! He wanted her so much it hurt, instead, he pressed his forehead against hers, giving her time to come back to him

Little steps, he thought, he didn’t want to ruin their first kiss, by being too eager.

\- Magnum : « are you okay ? »  
\- Higgins : « yes….yes…. » She replied in a whisper, with her eyes still closed. 

Suddenly, realising where she was, and what she was doing, Juliet covered her mouth with her hands, her big eyes darting around, searching for an escape. 

She was blushing profusely, Thomas was afraid she was going to have another panic attack.  
So much for not freaking her out, thought Magnum.

\- Magnum : « I really hope you don’t regret this. But if you don’t want me, I…I’ll understand, it’s gonna break my heart, but I wont force you into anything Higgy» replied Thomas, with worry in his eyes.  
\- Higgins : « you….you really like me ? »  
\- Magnum : « I do, I really do. You have no idea how much I wanted this… »  
\- Higgins : « I’m not like Abby, Magnum, not like the other girls you dated before »  
\- Magnum : « I know… believe me, I know…you’re better Juliet, way better, don’t let anyone convince you otherwise, I choose you, not Abby, not anyone else, and I really hope you’re gonna choose me….so I’m asking you, for real this time, do you want to be my girlfriend Higgy ? » 

Juliet looked into his chocolate brown eyes and she didn’t find, not even a glint of amusement or malice, only hope, love and pure desire.  
Juliet nodded with tears in her eyes, unable to control her emotions, Magnum hugged her, finally welcoming her in his arms.  
He felt the tension leaving her body, and promised himself to never hurt her and to protect her at all cost.

When he got back to Robin’s nest, Magnum was so happy and distracted by his evening with Higgins, that he nearly ran into a truck, earning himself a few insults and honks from various cars on the road.

It was so difficult to stay focused, when the only thing he was thinking about, was Juliet kissing him.

He nearly broke his neck by falling into the koi pond, and almost gave Kumu an heart attack. 

He coudn’t stop laughing, and when she gave him a hand to get out of the water, he took her in his arms, lifting her in the air, making her laugh and scream at the same time.  
Magnum thanked her profusely for the scooter, with a big smile plastered on his face.

\- Kumu : « let me guess, you took Juliet for a ride ? »  
Magnum nodded, grinning, not even caring that he was drenched from head to toes.  
\- Kumu : « and something happened….something really nice… »  
\- Magnum : « she kissed me ! or I kissed her ? I don’t remember, but it happened, we’re together, I’m gonna marry her ! » Magnum was talking so fast that he was barely intelligible he was rambling happily, too excited to care.  
\- Kumu : « Oh my god ! calm down casanova ! and go take a shower, you smell like fish ! » replied Kumu smiling.  
\- Magnum : « ok, ok, but thanks for all the advices Kumu, taking things slow was definitely the best option, and I didn’t try to be cool or to impressed her, I just told her how I felt and… »  
\- Kumu : « yeah ! yeah ok Thomas ! I got it ! Igot it ! you’re in love, but talking about wedding at sixteen years old, is not what I call taking things slow ! »  
\- Magnum : « No ? »  
\- Kumu : « absolutly not ! now, shut up and go get yourself clean up before catching a cold, we’ll talk during diner »  
Magnum kissed her cheek before running to his room. 

Kumu laughed while trying to readjust her hair and dress, that kid was like a tornado, he certainly made life interesting, she thought. 

Robin who was watching them from afar, welcomed her with a towel, and with a knowing look he asked :  
\- Robin : "Juliet ?"  
\- Kumu : "who else ?" replied Kumu with a smile.

Somewhere in London.

Richard Pryce, handsome seventeen years old, brilliant student of cambridge boardschool, was smiling wickedly at his computer screen. 

He was mesmerized by the photograph of Juliet Higgins, that some random girl from Hawaii, just sent him by email. 

Apparently she wanted to create a group chat with english students, to prepare a future class trip to england. 

She thought contacting old Juliet ‘s classmates was a great idea, and Richard couldn’t agree more.

He‘s been looking for her for so long, that he almost gave up on his revenge.

Because of Juliet, his family was destroyed, his parents divorced, and he wasn’t Richard Pryce anymore, but Richard Dane the son of a criminal.  
Taking his mother’s name after the divorce, was another humiliation that he couldn’t handle, constantly reminding him that he was the son of a serial killer, who let his last victim escape and ruined his life. 

His father, Ian Pryce wasn’t a wealthy and respected business man anymore, he had to disappear, because the police was still looking for him after what he had done to Juliet, and to all those useless girls.

Richard knew targeting Juliet wasn’t a good idea. 

The usual runaways was good enough for him, but noooo, his dad had to take an interest in her and messed up everything. 

When he brought her home, she was supposed to work on a school project with him, but the moment his father saw the blond beauty, he couldn’t resist, and his apetite for young girls got the best of him.

They usually shared the girls without any reluctances from both parts, but for once Richard wanted something for himself, Juliet was his, and his only.  
The fact that his dad stole her from him, was a thorn in his side that he couldn’t forget.

But thanks to Abbycutie217, Juliet was back in his life, and this time, he wasn’t going to let her escape him. 

Richard was glad that when she was found by the police, she was so traumatized that her testimony was useless.  
She couldn’t talk without having a breakdown, she barely remember what happened, thanks to the drugs his father gave her.

He was scared that she would incriminate him as an accomplice of his father, but she was so confused, that the police gave up on interrogating her.  
They had enough evidences to convict his father for murder and sexual assault, so pushing the investigations any further was a loss of time and ressources.

Luckily, they didn’t found the videos, that Richard kept preciously.  
It was afterall the only way he could find release, since his father was on scotland yard most wanted list, and had to lay low.

Juliet’s own father refused to aknowledge what had happened to his daughter.  
Lord Higgins used all his money and power, to keep Juliet away from the police department.

She could have seriously help the detectives to identified his father’s accomplice, but he shut her up, and buried the investigations.  
He didn’t want his precious image, to be tainted by a rape and murder case.

He rejected all the doctor’s advices to get help from a therapist for Juliet, he had enough with a wife suffering from early stage of dementia, he didn’t want another failure in his life.

So lord Higgins did what he thought was best to save his reputation, and send Juliet and her mother, as far away as he could from his life.  
He only kept his son close to him, at least, he was the only part of his family that wasn’t going to bring shame on his name.

Richard shook his head in amusement, thinking about the uptight lord Higgins, alone in his castle.  
He thought that getting rid of his distraught daughter and wife would solve all his problems, but he only end up creating a rift between him and the last member of his family.  
His only son, Daniel ressented him for sending his mother and sister away, even if he was not brave enough to stand up to his father. 

They were both cowards thought Richard, at least Juliet was strong enough to fight and managed to escape her predator.  
Noone until then, had succeeded to survive in his fathers claws. 

People easily judged his family, calling them criminals and perverts, but the aristocratic Higgins family, was no better than his. 

A rich lord who abandonned his wife and daughter, when they needed him the most, had no rights to look down on them.

In a way he admired her, Juliet was brave and smart, he could have easily fell for her, if his twisted mind could resist his dark urges to hurt and break what he loved.

He enjoyed watching her suffering in his father’s hand, her tears, her cries for help, and he was waiting to see the light going out of her eyes.  
But this moment never came, because she never gave up and fought until the end.

His father was not prepared for the fury that was Juliet Higgins, even scared to death, she retaliated in such violent way, that he had to drug her to finally subdue the young girl.

Ian Pryce probably traumatized Juliet for life, but she didn’t left him unscathed either, she literally reaped his left eye out, making it impossible for his father to forget the blond beauty.

Richard smiled thinking about Juliet, he got excited just imagining his hand on her skin, and the smell of her hair.

Too bad she was not a virgin anymore, his idiot father made sure of that, but he was certain, that he was going to enjoy, taking his time to break what was left of her. 

This Abby girl could satisfy his father, but Juliet was going to be his, and his only, even if he had to kill his own dad for it.

He was done being the apprentice in their duo, this time, he was going to surpass his father.

Richard couldn’t wait for summer break to come, he had a trip to Hawaii to planned.


	7. revelations

Magnum has been staring at the crime scene’s photos for a while now, and he wondered if it really was a good idea to share them with his friends.

They wanted to study Amanda’s file to help searching for her, but some details of the case were so morbid, that he was worried about their effect on them, especially Higgins.

He texted her all night, telling her how happy he was after their first kiss, and that he nearly had an accident on the road back to Robin’s nest. 

Of course she replied by lecturing him about his lack of focus while driving, but seriously, there’s no way he could have think of something else, after the intense kiss they shared.

See ! He was drifting away again, thinking about Higgins, instead of working. 

He ridiculed himself this morning during P.E, catching a ball with his face, because he was watching Higgy running in her very small shorts, instead of concentrating on the game.

And you now what ? A ball thrown by his giant friend T.C with his powerfull arm, at full speed, right in the nose …. Freaking hurt ! 

He nearly blacked out at the shock, it was a miracle that he didn’t get a concussion.

Apparently he had a very hard head.

His teamates laughed their asses of at his expense, coach Mac Garrett, not so much. 

He had to run five more laps than the others, because he kept screwing up during training. 

He needed to get his shit together, or he was going to loose a limb by having another accident, again.

Magnum had never been clumsy, on the contrary he was proud of his athletics, nearly acrobatics talents. 

Everybody usually compared him to a cat, but right now he felt like a clown.

He was happy though, grinning like an idiot all day, and he didn’t want to destroy that, by showing to Higgins, the gruesome photos and bringing back traumatic memories.

He didn’t know the details of her story, but he could only imagined that terribles things were done to her. 

The fear of getting touched, her clean freak behaviour, the panic attack, the violence of her flash back, all of that screamed sexual abuses.

The worst of it was, that the two bodies that the police had found, actually reminded him of Higgins, young blond teenagers, with very long hair that reach the small of their back...

Katsumoto's father was puzzled because Amanda didn’t fit the profile of the others victims. 

She was asian, with long black hair….maybe she was a collateral victim ? The killer got to her because she was with Malia, a blond cheerleader.

And seriously ! What was the killer’s obsession with the eyes ?

Each victims were missing their left eye, it was litterally torn of with probably bare hands, so much rage was needed to do that.

That butcher, spent a long time torturing and raping them, and he always finished by brutally ripping of half of their faces.

Sometimes, murderers couldn’t stand their prey staring at them, so they mutilated the eyes or blindfold them to avoid their sight. 

But in this case, why only one ? And always the left, there must be some kind of meaning behind this disturbing behaviour.

Magnum was so focused on the police report, that he didn’t hear Tani and Jerry getting in the club room.

Tani brutally closed his laptop, pushed the photos up to his chest and whispered to him, in a worried tone, to hide them before Juliet and Noelani’s arrival in the room.

Magnum executed himself as fast as he could, and when Juliet came in, she found the three students weirdly smiling at her.

\- Higgins : « is there something on my face ? Why are you looking at me like that ? »  
\- Magnum : « yeeeaaah…I mean no ! » laughed Thomas, nervously scratching his head « Can I talk to you Higgy ? »  
\- Higgins : « we can talk later, we were supposed to have a debriefing about Amanda’s case » Replied Juliet suspiciously.  
\- Magnum : « I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to see those photos, some of them are really disturbing, and I am not saying that only for Juliet, but for all of you guys. »  
Jerry and Noelani flinched at his words, but Juliet was offended.

\- Higgins : « I can handle it Magnum, you saw them, and you’re okay, if we want to help Amanda, it’s a little sacrifice I am willing to make. »  
\- Magnum : « I’m not a reference, I’m used to it. »  
\- Higgins : « really ? » replied Higgins, crossing her harms, raising an eyebrow, with a tilt of her head.

Magnum knew too well this signature posture, it’s the one he often get, when she was about to lecture him for whatever she thought he did wrong. 

Only one thing was missing … aaaaand… here comes the pout ! 

She pursed her lips like a little girl about to have a temper tantrum, and even pissed of, she was cute, thought Magnum. 

He’d better not saying it out loud, because getting punched was the last thing he wanted, but he needed to calm her down, without embarassing her in front of their friends.

\- Magnum : « Higgy….please, I’m begging you, can you please trust me on this, I‘m not saying you can’t see the report, but, just not right now, I’d prefer for us to see it together…alone… »

Magnum was looking at her, with so much worry in his eyes, that Juliet felt guilty and finally nodded, admitting internally, that it was maybe a little bit justified, because she did freak out twice this week, he was not being overprotective for nothing.

Jerry was about to say something, but Noelani elbowed him to shut him up. 

Tani sighed obviously relieved, she visibly had informations about Juliet that Magnum didn’t know, and he felt a pang of jaleousy that Juliet trusted her more than him.

She immediatly reacted when she saw the photos, knowing they would upset their friend, it could only mean one thing to him, those girls really did looked like Juliet.

Magnum didn’t like it at all, he needed to talk to her, he had a very bad feeling about this.

Tani pushed a reluctant Jerry and Noelani out of the room, to let them talk in private.

She gave Magnum a knowing look before leaving, silently asking him to please take care of her friend, with worry all over her face.

The conversation Magnum shared with Higgins after they left, was gonna haunt him for a long time.

They sat together at his desk, and Thomas explained to his very first love, what that monster had done to those girls.

He didn’t show her the photos right away, he was sure Juliet wouldn’t be able to talk after seeing them.

Magnum took several pauses, while giving her the horrific details of the files.

Juliet was getting paler and paler, she didn’t utter a word, only nodding for him to continue his report, the tension was so heavy that even him, had a hard time to breath.

He tried to avoid the crude words of the case to protect her.

How could he talk to her, about all the damages that butcher had inflicted to those young girls, when Juliet was tighting her first so hard, that her knuckles were white, and her nails were probably digging unforgivinly into the palms of her hands.

But Juliet insisted to get all the details, and what made her flinched so violently, that she nearly fell of her chair, was when he talked about the fingers.

On each bodies they found, all the fingers were broken with the nails viciously torn of.

To avoid her fall and steady her, Thomas instinctly reach out to grabbed her harm, causing Juliet to suddenly lashed out, brutally pushing him and kicking his chair before backing of, far away from him, only stopped by the door.

Her eyes turned into a blank and unfocused expression, like she wasn’t with him anymore, but drown in the darkness of an horrible nightmare.

Her breath was ragged, and came in little puffs, her body so rigid, that he has no doubt, he was going to get his ass kicked if he wasn’t careful.

\- Magnum : « Higgy ?.... please…. » he wanted to stop, he felt like he was the one hurting her, and he couldn’t stand it.  
\- Higgins : « the photos….show me the photos…. » her eyes were still fixated on the wall behind him avoiding his sight, she couldn’t even look at him  
\- Magnum : « Higgy, I don’t think it’s a good idea » she punched the door so hard, that the people in the corridor jumped in fear. 

The last thing Thomas wanted, was a teacher coming in, to see what was causing the ruckus in the club room, and finding him with a Higgy in a full PTSD episode. « okay, okay, I’ll show you, but they are really gruesome, and… » She cut him of by coming to the table in rapid steps, and grabbed the files to watch the photos.

When she saw the bodies of the two young girls, Juliet face turned white, her blood ran cold in her veins, she felt like a stab in her heart, painful enough that she stopped breathing.

They were on their knees, naked, their feet raw like they ran for hours barefoot in the woods, the evidences of torture and all the atrocities they went through were all over their bodies, their arms attached to a tree, in a pretense of prayer.

Both of them were missing their left eye, probably torn of with bare hands, a small crown of violets tangled in their long blond hair.

It was him all along thought Juliet, all those missing girls….  
He had followed her, he had found her…

Thomas caught Juliet in his arms, right before she hit the floor.  
She was on full panic attack, not breathing at all, her hands around her throat, her eyes blank again, her lips turning blue.

He gently lay her down on the floor, trying to coax her into letting go of her throat without touching her.

« Please Higgy, please… »

Magnum had never felt this helpless in his life, he was starting to panic, if she wasn’t getting air in a few seconds, he was ready to carry her to the school nurse office himself.

Suddenly the door opened violently, coach Mc Garrett came in, and when he saw Juliet on the floor, he didn’t ask for any explanations, but instead he closed the door, crouched next to her and started to bark orders to a completely stunned Magnum.

\- Mc Garrett : « do you have any water in the black room ? »

Magnum was so shocked, that he couldn’t react, Mc Garrett grabbed him by his shirt and yelled « MAGNUM ! » Thomas blinked and finally replied « yes ! YES ! »

The coach asked him to get some wet towels, Thomas sprung into action, and came back with what Mc Garrett had asked for.

He watch the coach folding them, to put one under her neck and the second one on her forehead.

He was weirdly delicate with her, he started to talk to her in a very gentle tone, Magnum never imagined his coach being this soft, but he was grateful for his presence when Juliet took her first gulp of air.

\- Mc Garrett : « that’s it kiddo, breathe in…breathe out… now, slow down.... I want you to take a deep breath in, don’t rush it ….yeah just like that, my friend Harry Langford told me about you Juliet, he told me how strong you were, I know you can do it….he never forgot about you, he never stopped looking out for you, he asked me to watch over you Juliet…..you will be safe kiddo I promised…don’t worry…you are not alone in this…»

Magnum’s heart broke, when he saw the tears in her eyes, she was fighting so hard to not cry in front of them .

The coach elbowed him and nudged him in Juliet's direction, when he saw her hand moving around blindly « It’s not my hand she’s looking for ! »

Thomas sat on the floor next to her, to hold her hand, she was breathing normally now, silent tears trickeling down on her flushed face, like endless river of despair. 

He gently brushed her wet hair out of her sweaty forehead, trying to appease her. « I’m right here Higgy, you’re okay now, we’re going to be okay, I promised, I won't let you down »


	8. Under the moonlight

Robin Masters always considered himself a powerful man. 

He had all the might that his endless ressources could provide, money, political relations, and above all of that, informations.

As a journalist, he learnt that knowledge was power, he knew enough about any judges or governors in different countries, to get his way in almost any situation. 

He grew up in a rich family, so money never was a problem. 

His career choice, as a writer and a journalist was against all the whishes his family had for him.

But following the rules was never his fort, so he refused the life they choosed for him, and went to the battlefields full of hope and dreams.

He wanted to change the world, and make it a better place, when his family just wanted him to just make more money, more than they already had.

Working as a war correspondent and spending his time on the battlefield with soldiers and refugees, taught him to be humble. He learnt that all the power he owned, often was useless in the most crucial moments, and that the real heroes weren’t the one you thought. 

He decided to use everything he got to help people as much as he could. 

Meeting Magnum’s father definetly changed his life, and his son was as brave as his dad was.

He was a fair leader, always smiling and fighting to protect the innocent. 

Also often yelled at by his superior, but admired by his teamates.

Now, even with all that strength at his disposal, he felt helpless when it came to keep his promise to protect Thomas after his father’s death.

He couldn’t find the words to comfort his scared godson, who was panicking at the idea of letting his girlfriend out of his sight.

Learning the gruesome details of her dark past, from his « coach » didn’t help with the situation.

Thomas was adamant, he was not letting her go back to her place, her sick mother and her nurse assistants couldn’t provide the protection she needed against Pryce.

There’s no way, he was going to abandon her like her family already did.

When he arrived from school with Mc Garrett, and a strangely quiet Juliet in toe, Robin knew that something wrong had happened today.

Thomas wasn’t his usual happy go lucky self, and Juliet was pale as a ghost.  
Her red rim eyes were evidences of her distress, she looked like a rag doll threatening to crumble to the floor, if Thomas ever let go of her hand.

Robin knew that his godson’s coach wasn’t just some random P.E teacher.  
Mc Garrett called him a few month ago to tell him that Pryce was in Hawaii, and that Thomas, who spent a lot of time with Juliet, could be targeted by the serial killer.

Mc Garrett asked Robin for his help and his contacts on the island, and knowing the reliable soldier, Robin agreed to help him catch the english psychopath.

He was aware of his brilliant career in the navy seals, particulary in the special ops.  
They crossed path on the battlefield a few times, and rapidly became friends.

Robin trusted Mc Garrett with his life, but to take care of young distraught teenagers, not so much…

\- Magnum : « did you knew about Pryce ? » asked Thomas furious, Robin knew that avoiding a fight with him was impossible, his godson could easily guess the answer, and lying to him right now, will only make everything worst.  
\- Robin : « Yes Thomas, I was aware of his presence on the island, and I also knew about his involvement with Juliet… »  
\- Magnum : « AND YOU DIDN’T THINK TO TELL ME ? » yelled Magnum.  
\- Robin : « it was not my story to tell Thomas, and now I want you to stop screaming, you’re upsetting Juliet » Thomas turned to see Higgins behind him, covering her ears, with tears in her eyes.  
\- Magnum : « Higgy, I’m sorry… » Juliet left without answering, running outside to escape the argument. 

Magnum wanted to follow her, but Kumu stopped him, she will take care of his friend, he needed to stay to discuss with his foster father, preferably without screaming.

Kumu left the three men to talk, and gave them a warning look.

She will not tolerate any fight in Robin’s nest, this place was supposed to be a shelter for them, not a battleground.

The ennemy was outside waiting for them, and their attitude was not helping Juliet at all.

Thomas felt guilty about his burst of anger, he sat quietly on the sofa, and listened to his godfather and his so called coach, explaining their plan.

Robin had a hard time to convince Thomas, that they weren’t just using Juliet as bait, they had a team constantly watching over her at home and in school.

So goodbye his privacy, thought Thomas, everybody probably saw them kissing.

Robin smiled seeing his godson blushing and Mc Garrett rolled his eyes, shaking his head in amusement.

Thomas was not surprised that his coach was a navy seal, he knew that the guy was tough, and the tattoos gave it away anyway, but he was baffled that nurse Rollins was his partner, and probably as badass as he was.

Magnum flinched a little, when Mc Garrett warned him against planning another dangerous move like their undercover mission. 

He won’t stop Katsumoto’s father, from arresting him, if he ever trespassed in his house again.  
Thank god Gordon’s father wasn’t part of their team….yet.

He couldn’t imagine what the detective was gonna do to him, if he knew how he sneaked into his house, to steal informations.

If he didn’t like him before, he was going to be on his shitlist now.

In a way, Magnum felt relieved to know that they weren’t alone to deal with the Pryce case.

He hoped that they could make Juliet feel safer, he still didn’t like the idea of letting her go back to her place, even with the team constantly watching over her.

He understood now, why Robin didn’t want him to be involved with Amanda's disparition, he could have warned Pryce about the team who was looking for him.

Thomas thanked them for their help, and left to see Juliet’s whereabouts.

He found her in his room, she apparently had a shower, and was wearing now, one of his shirt and sweatpants, sitting on his bed with her back against Kumu, who was gently brushing her hair.

She seemed so small and vulnerable in the arms of the older woman.

Thomas felt a pang in his heart seeing her like this, basking in Kumu tenderness, Juliet missed the love and the care of her mother, and going home to a mom who doesn’t remember her, was just too cruel.

Her face was finally relaxed and appeased, the tears and the worried lines were gone, at least for now.

He never forgot the pain of loosing his mother, how he still missed her everyday, and how gratefull he was, to have Kumu in his life.

Robin who joined him in the corridor, beckoned him to follow him and leave them alone.

He put his arms around his godson shoulder, reminding him that he wasn’t alone in this, and to, for once, let the adults handle everything.

After calling Juliet’s mother’s assistants to warn them, Robin let Juliet stay with them that night. 

They ate pizzas together and watch star wars « A new hope », because the british girl needed more pop culture references, according to Thomas.

They talked and laughed, bickered over small things, shared funny memories and gave Juliet a glimpse of their easy family life.

Later that night, Magnum was surprised to see Juliet joining him in his room.

Thomas knew that Kumu had prepared a room for her, so when he saw Higgins, barefeet, only wearing his too big detroit tigers tee-shirt, and a pillow under her arm, he internally started to freaked out about the idea of spending the night with his girlfriend.

He perfectly knew that Juliet was just looking for comfort in his arms, and nothing else. 

But he was not made of stone, and he knew that his body was going to betray him, if she came too close to him in bed, only in her panties and a tee-shirt.

She asked him if she could stay, and Magnum suggested in return, that he should call Kumu if she didn’t want to sleep alone. 

Juliet shook her head and hugged him tightly, whispering that she trusted him and wanted to be with him.

Magnum sighed and let her in his bed, thinking that he was probably gonna surpass himself by keeping his self control tonight.

Anyway, he was not crazy, so he did something that Juliet thought was very funny, and rolled her up in the cover like a human burrito.

Higgins laughed and gently stroke his cheek, mesmerized by his chocolate brown eyes, only lightened by the moon. 

Magnum caressed the golden waves of her hair spread on his bed and leaned forward to press a kiss on her forehead, whispering goodnight in a breath.

When he saw the want and desire in her eyes, he shook his head to clear his mind, he felt weak in her arms and wanted to leave to stopped himself from going any further.

Juliet refused to let him go, and brought him closer to her, with her fingers through his hair, gently scrapping his scalp, eliciting a moan of pleasure from him.

He groaned in frustration : « Higgy, if you’re continue to do this I’m pretty sure I’m gonna embarassed myself very fast. »  
Juliet replied in a whisper : « he didn’t kiss me…. He did a lot of things to me, but he didn’t took that away from me… you were my first, the only one…» He saw tears starting to welled up in her eyes and couldn’t resist anymore.

So much for self control … he thought.

Magnum kissed her full rosy lips, bringing her closer to him without restraint. 

He licked and graze her upper lip with the tip of his tongue, begging her to let him inside, when she opened her mouth, he deepened the kiss, diving into her like a moth attracted to flames.

He took his time exploring her mouth with his tongue slowly teasing hers in a burning kiss, making her forget the pain, the fear that has plagued her life until now.

She moaned in pleasure, arching her back, and tightening her embrace around him.

Magnum felt her breast, pressed against his chest, his heart was racing with excitement, he wanted her so much that he felt himself starting to get hard, FUCK ! He was so screwed ! He thought. 

Thomas, in a excruciating effort, gently pushed Juliet away from him, to let his forehead against hers, struggling to catch his breath « you are going to kill me, you know that !  
"Juliet gave him a shy smile, while he brushed away her tears « I’m glad that we have that between us, that when you kiss me I don’t think about him, it’s you Thomas, only you "  
Magnum kissed her hair and brought her closer to him, gently rubbing her back. « I feel the same way Higgy…I do, I just don’t wanna hurt you…I won’t be able to forgive myself if I ever pushed you too far »

Juliet burried her face in his neck and whispered « you won’t, I trust you … »

She let sleep take over her, and a few minutes later Thomas followed her in slumber, not aware that somewhere in the woods a man with a glass eye, was smiling under the moonlight, while watching his latest victim taking her last breath.


	9. The calm before the storm

Juliet tenderly brushed away a soft lock of hair from Thomas‘s forehead, paying attention to not wake him up.

She didn’t want to disturb his peaceful slumber and ruined everything.

He was sleeping deeply against her, his arm still around her waist, his handsome face relaxed and his mouth slightly open.

She smiled thinking about last night, she wanted to spend the night with him, to be really his, but Thomas rejected her offer….

Maybe he was right to do so, maybe she wasn’t ready to go that far. 

She knew that he deeply cared about her and didn’t want to take advantage of the situation.

She was still a little bit scared to go further, but she felt like Pryce was getting closer and closer, and that her time was over now.

She bit her lip, thinking about what she was going to do, but she had no other choices, it was better this way.

Juliet gently unlocked Magnum’s arm from her waist, she slipped outside the cover and replaced herself with a pillow.

She felt guilty to abandon him like this, but there’s no way she would take the risk of him getting hurt by Pryce because of her.

He was the best thing that ever happened to her, and for once, she wanted to protect him, and not the other way around.

She had already destroyed her own family, she refused to drag Thomas into her nightmare.

Juliet changed clothes quickly, she took back her school uniform, her back pack, and after a last look to Robin’s nest, she ran away toward the gate.

There was a big tree next to the fences, she tried to climb it to jump over, but her foot slipped, and unable to stop her fall, she braced herself for the pain. 

Instead of hitting the ground, Juliet landed in two strong arms, she opened her eyes to see a pissed of Thomas supporting her weight.

He dropped her gently on the floor, his face was livid with controlled anger « living so soon ? No breakfast ? »

Juliet felt guilty seeing the hurt and the betrayal in his eyes, but she couldn’t let him risk his life for her. « Please….you have to let me go, I can’t stay with you, I can’t let him hurt you or your family, he already destroyed mine, I can’t let that happened to yours Magnum ! »

Thomas gave her a sad smile and replied : « What’s the plan Higgy ? Tell me ? Where were you going by yourself ? Do you have any idea what could have happened if I didn’t found you in time ? »  
\- Higgins : « The thing is, I exactly know what’s going to happened, and you don’t, so please let me go, he won’t catch me alive this time, I can’t go through that again, I won’t ! »

Magnum didn’t like what she was implying, and the desperate look in her eyes. « What are you planning to do Higgy ? You’re scaring me now… »

Juliet couldn’t look at him anymore « I won’t survive if he touches me again….I’d rather die….he killed all those girls because of me, he took Amanda away and we don’t know what he’s doing to her right now, or if she’s even alive…all of that, because he followed me here ! »

Magnum took her in his arm, she was trembling and on the verge of tears, he didn’t know how to comfort her « we will overcome this Higgy, I promise, it’s not your fault, Pryce is a psychopath, we don’t even know how many girls he killed before meeting you, his rampage has nothing to do with you, on the contrary, I think you managed to stop him for while, we’ll do anything to protect you from him, running away is not the solution. Believe me, I’ve been there… »

Juliet burried her face in his neck, Magnum could feel her silent tears running down her cheeks, and soaking his shirt. 

When she came to his room last night, she wasn’t looking for comfort, she was saying goodbye, thought Magnum. « I know you’re scared Higgy, but let us help you, stay with me, please….stay… » he begged, his voice breaking with emotion.

Juliet couldn’t stand hurting him like this, he was always so confident, and now seeing this vulnerable side of him was heartbreaking, and she was the one causing it.

She put her arms around his neck and nodded, Magnum sighed finally relieved.

He didn’t dare to imagine what could have happened, if he didn’t wake up in time, to stop her from leaving.

Magnum escorted her back to Robin’s nest, his heart heavy with sorrow, and worry gnawing at him, they needed to catch Pryce, fast, he didn’t know much Juliet could take anymore.

A few hours later, HPD found two other bodies, the uber driver on the side of the road, with a bullet between his eyes, and Malia in the woods, in the exact same position as the first victims.

Robin and Mc Garrett contacted detective Katsumoto to give him their informations on the case, mostly Harry Langford’s files on Pryce.

Magnum was glad that Mc Garrett didn’t rat him out to Gordon’s father, even if he kept giving him the stink eye during the whole report.

While they were all discussing the case, Juliet was with nurse…scratch that, agent Catherine Rollins, who was teaching her how to pick a lock or get out of handcuffs with a hairpin.

Magnum blood ran cold in his veins at the idea of Juliet in handcuffs, but Mc Garrett reassured him, it was just a precaution, they really wanted to catch Pryce before he even came close to Juliet.

Catherine was sweet and gentle with Higgins, she even managed to make her smile, Magnum felt a little better seeing them together. « Your girlfriend is amazing. » said Magnum with a smile.

« Yours too. » replied Mc Garrett ruffling the teenagers hair.

\- Magnum : « Juliet tried to run away this morning…she was so scared to see Pryce again, that I think she was planning to….  
I don’t know….she said that this time, she was not gonna let him catch her alive …»  
\- Mc Garrett : « we won’t let her do that, we’re gonna get him…for good….okay ? …just watch over her, and trust her, she kicked his ass before, she was barely fourteen years old, and fought hard enough to escape, I think she is far more stronger than you think »

The commander explained to him that they had a lead on the violets they found in the victims’s hair.

His team was ready to investigate the few florists who were able to provide this kind of flower on the island.

Apparently those violets were often used for perfume, Pryce was so obsessed by Juliet, that he was trying to make his victims smell like her. 

Magnum cringed at the idea, but Pryce’s taste for dramatic and theatrical crime scenes was gonna lead them to him.

His pride and his lack of control over his urges were gonna be his downfall, Mc Garrett was sure of it.

The commander was worried by the haunted look in Thomas’s eyes, no kids should be involved in gruesome case like this.

\- Mc Garrett : « it’s Saturday, no school, no training, why don’t you go have fun with Juliet ? Take her to the beach with your friends …It would be good for her to think about something else for a day or two, do something not related to Pryce »  
\- Magnum : « we can’t leave Robin’s nest ! it’s not safe outside ! »  
\- Mc Garrett : « I told you, my guys will watch over you, you won’t be alone out there, but if you’re not comfortable leaving the property, invite your friends here, have a barbecue or even a slumber party, this place is huge and you have your own private beach for god's sake ! »

Magnum thought about it for a minute and agreed with Mc Garrett. 

They needed to act like normal teenagers, just not to raise any suspicions from Pryce, who could be watching them. 

It was like the undercover mission all over again, but this time, it was to lure the serial killer out.

Juliet needed to think about something else, her mind was in a very dark place right now, he wanted to make her happy for a day, and let the adults handle the case.

It took a lot of persuasion from Catherine and Kumu to convince Juliet to go to the beach, Tani and Junior went to her place to get her swimsuit and more clothes.

Thomas was relieved that his godfather agreed to let Juliet stay in Robin’nest until they caught Pryce.

He wasn't ready to let her go yet.

Magnum called Rick, T.C, Noelani, Quinn, Jerry, and even grumpy Gordon.

He only « agreed » to come because Magnum told his mom that Higgins and Tani were gonna be there, and that her son needed to have fun once in a while. 

Mrs Katsumoto gave no choice to her son and dropped him at Magnum’s home, cheerfully kissing him goodbye in front of his so called friends.

Gordon was so pissed, staring at Magnum with a murderous glare while his mom was talking to Kumu and Robin.

Of course, she was a fan of Robin, giggling like a teenage girl, completely under the writer’s charm.

Magnum couldn’t stop laughing at Gordon’s mother’s antics, he wondered how a charming and cheerful woman like her, ended up with a brooding son like Gordie.

All the kids spent their day on the private beach of the estate, swimming, playing volley ball, or simply basking in the sun.

Magnum couldn’t take his eyes of Higgins.

She was wearing a cute, white and blue gingham print, bikini.

Her hair rested freely on her shoulders for once, with only a white headband, to prevent the long blond curls to fall into her eyes.

She looked like a starlet from Saint Tropez, he saw in one of Robin’s old french movies, and his poor heart kept racing each time she came a little too close to him, or jumped on his back in the tide pool. 

The boys kept laughing at him, even grumpy Katsumoto, everyone knew the effect she had on him, except Juliet herself.

Magnum was just happy to see her smile.

He knew that hard times were coming for them, so he hoped enjoying this week-end with their friends, would distracted her from all her fears and worries.

At noon, Kumu brought them a delicious barbecue meal, Rick who was surprisingly good at cooking, helped with the grill, while the others took care of the drinks and set the tables.

They ate all together, laughing and making fun of each others, like Pryce never existed. 

Magnum was sure that Rick had a crush on Quinn, and he felt guilty that he didn’t even noticed before.

Rick was, with T.C, one of his best friends, always there for him, supporting him through everything.

But lately, Magnum felt like he had neglected his friends, so those two days with them was a blessing, and a way to spend more time with his ohana.

After eating, Rick thought it was a good idea to do a car race on the huge lawn of the property, they used the little golf cart of Robin’s nest.

Thomas let Higgins drive, and he was surprised to see a fearless Juliet going as fast as she could, scaring him to death. 

Her competitive side took over her shy personality, and turned her into a driver as crazy as Tani.

When they won the race, Juliet was so happy that she kissed him on the lips in front of everyone.

She was so baffled by her own spontaneous gesture, that she furiously blushed, hiding her red face in his neck, while the others happily cheered on her and Thomas.

Yeah…maybe he underestimated her, like Mc Garrett said earlier, maybe she was stronger than he thought.

They ended up their day, by stacking all their mattress in the living room, to sleep around the fireplace.

Next to him, Juliet reached out to hold his hand, exhausted but happy.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11:00 pm, Amanda Sako’s house

Mr Sako was so tired that he felt like he was dead on his feet, waiting all day, for a call, or any news on his daughter was pure torture. 

When the police informed him that they found Malia and the uber driver, both dead, He quietly thanked the detective, when all he wanted to do was scream at them, to go find his daughter instead of watching his house constantly.

He was so angry, that the minute he closed the door on the police officer, he broke down and destroyed a small table with his barehands and started to cry, like a little boy having a temper tantrum, sitting on the floor with his arms around his knees.

He only stopped when he received an email, a video on his phone.

He watched it in complete silence for a minute, unable to react, a cold shiver ran down his spine and he felt a stab in his heart, painful enough to cut of his breathing.

He knew what he had to do, he didn’t care about what was going to happened to him, he needed to get Amanda back, even if he had to set the world on fire for that.


	10. the first moove

Going back to school, after everything they learnt about Pryce, was harder than Thomas thought.

Magnum felt safe in Robin’s nest, in high school…not so much.

Knowing the H50 team was close by, wasn’t enough to reassure him.  
He had the impression that the serial killer was hiding behind every closed door, like some kind of boogey man, patiently waiting to get the jump on them.

Letting Juliet go out of his sight, just for one minute, was too much for his worried brain.  
He couldn’t stop imagining the worst case scenarios, everytime he couldn’t see her. 

Going to foot ball training, with only Juliet on his mind, was hell, she refused to wait for him in the bleachers, because she needed to study, so she went to the library with Noelani.

At least she wasn’t alone, thought Magnum, even if Noelani had a very strong personality despite her short stature, she wasn’t really what you could call a bodyguard.

Tani, who was doing some acrobatic moves with the cheerleaders, managed to give him a sheepish smile.

If Thomas was easily distracted during sport, Tani looked like she could take down all the foot ball players by herself, while agitating her pom poms, with a smile.

Once again he felt like she was reading his mind, sharing all his worries about Juliet, and still being able to function normally, unlike himself.

Abby wasn’t training with them today, it seemed like she lost all interest into being a cheerleader since their breakup, or maybe she was just avoiding him, which could be understandable in this situation.

Thomas still felt a little guilty hurting her like this.  
He shouldn’t have date her in the first place, making her believe that he was in love with her, when all he was thinking about was Juliet.

In the high school library :

Higgins and Noelani were studying quietly, so focused on the open books in front them, that they didn’t notice Abby’s arrival in the library.

Abby : « Oh ! Look at that ! Piggy and Mary Poppins ! » said Abby with a smile, her cold blue eyes piercing through them, full of hate and contempt.  
The girls accompaning her laughed quietly, mocking the two young students.

Noelani snickered : « I like Piggy ! I think she has good sense of style, while being all round and cute ! And at least, she has a boyfriend, unlike you Abby ! » 

Abby gritted her teeth hard enough to make her jaw ache, she clenched her fists, offended by the brashness of the hawaian girl.

Noelani's retort made Juliet laugh out loud, she was impressed by her friend's trash talk, sometimes her short temper was really scary. « And Mary Poppins is kinda cool too ! » continued Noelani with a sneer.  
Noelani looked at them defiantly, absolutely not impressed with their taunts, if those cheerleaders wanted to intimidate them, they were failing miserably.

Abby was disapointed that her insults didn’t have the effect she aimed for. 

She wanted to erased the smug smile on Noelani’s face and hurt Juliet, so she went for the jugular instead of loosing her time in mindless offenses.

\- Abby : « you think you’re so smart and better than everyone else ! You’re acting like a prude here Juliet, like the freaking virgin Mary ! But I know you, I know everything about your past in England, and Thomas is gonna be so disapointed not to be your first ! » Juliet blanched this time, Abby knew she touched a very sore point and continued: 

« How long do you think he’s gonna wait for you to get over all your traumas ? He’s a very sexual person you know, I can tell you how good he was in bed with me, do you really think you can satisfy him Juliet? Do you think holding your hand like kindergarteners will be enough for him ? »

Noelani slammed her hand hard on the table and stood up to confront Abby, nearly nose to nose with the cheerleader, on her tip toes, but still menacing.

\- Abby : « and what are you gonna do shorty ? »

From afar, Mrs Keene the old librarian looked at them with a frown and whispered through her teeth « If you’re not here to study, I will ask you to leave ladies ! »

Ignoring her, Noelani took a step forward, making Abby back of a little « Magnum still choosed her over you, Abby ! Apparently the sex wasn’t that good ! » She replied with a smirk.

Abby lift her hand to slap Noelani, but she was stopped in her movement by Juliet who grabbed her arm, so fast that she didn’t have time to react, and she squeezed it hard enough to bruise, making the cheerleader moan in pain.

« You can insult me, humiliate me all you want, I don’t care, I’ve been tortured and hurt in ways than you can’t even begin to imagine, and I survived…..I survived through it all….But if you ever lay a finger on my friend….I will tear you apart Abby Miller ! » Juliet’s hazel eyes often changed color depending on her moods, and right now, her iris turned into an icy cold grey that Abby had never seen before.

The cheerleader tried to rip her arm away from her tight grasp, but she couldn’t even move a millimetre, only making Juliet squeeze it harder. « Okay ! Okay ! Let me go now ! » She cried in pain, Abby never thought that Juliet would have react in such a violent way, but now thinking about it, she did have a tendency to lash out, when she felt threatened or trapped.

When Juliet finally let her go, Abby sighed in relief, craddeling her arm against her chest, and gave the librarian an expectant look, waiting for her to intervene.

The old woman who had seen her fair share of bullying in her life, just readjusted her glasses on her nose and replied with disdain : « I strongly suggest that you let those very good students study in peace and leave before I report you to principal Tanaka, miss Miller. »

Offended, Abby left with her friends in toe, Noelani smile triumphally, but Juliet just gathered her books without meeting her eyes.

\- Noelani : « don’t let her bother you Juliet ! you know Thomas really loves you ! She’s wrong about him »  
\- Higgins : « she’s not wrong, I don’t even understand why he asked me out ? he’s loosing his time with me »  
\- Noelani : « Jules ! wait ! »

But Juliet had enough, she ran toward the corridor, her heart heavy with sorrow and shame. 

How did Abby even knew about this ? Is everyone going to know about her past ? She felt like everybody was looking at her, were they already blaming her for Amanda and the other victims ?

Juliet was walking fast, fighting her tears, when she suddenly saw him, Mr Sako, just right in front of her.

He was pale and sweating profusely, he took something of his bag, muttering through clenched teeth : « I’m sorry, I’m really sorry… »

He pointed a strange white gun at her, then turned it toward a window, and shot through it, making the glass explode everywhere.

The alarm rang with an horrible noise, Juliet felt like she was in a daze, her ears painfully ringing, unable to move, everything going in slow motion around her.

Students were running everywhere, screaming, but she couldn’t hear them over the sound of the blood rushing in her ears.

Something, or someone was shaking her arms to get her attention.

But she didn’t understand what was happening, she just tilted her head on the side because something was blocking her view on Mr Sako.

She was surprised to see that Mc Garrett was already shielding her from Amanda’s father, he grabbed her arm and pull her toward an empty classroom, after locking both of them inside, he gently cupped her cheeks : « Juliet ! I need you to concentrate, can you focus for me ? » She blinked, slightly frowning, unable to understand his words. 

She could see his lips moving, but no sounds were coming out, she felt like she was trapped in a bubble, strangely detached to what was happening to her.

Mc Garrett’s eyes darted around to assess the room, they were on the first floor, she could escape through the window.

But the young girl was still in shock, her ears ringing because of the blast of the shot. 

The navy seal felt bad for her, he really hoped to arrest her predator before he made a move on her, but he apparently couldn’t wait anymore, and using Mr Sako as a decoy was unexpected.

Steve talked to Catherine through his radio « I’m with her, she’s safe, did anyone got Sako already ? » « No, he locked himself in a room with the principal and his secretary, we’re evacuating the kids right now » « Okay, I’m taking Juliet with me ! Keep me updated»

\- Higgins : « he’s coming ! he’s coming for me ! » Juliet finally woke from her daze, her eyes huge with fear, her whole body trembling uncontrolably.

Steve took her hands to reassure her, « he won’t get to you, I promised to keep you safe and I won't let him get his hands on you, we planned this do you remember ?  
Catherine showed you what to do right ? Just focus on your training, you can do this, and my whole team is with you, you’re safe with us ! »

Juliet nodded and followed the commander through the window, she ran toward the gym, expecting to see Thomas there, but she only found Rick, T.C and the others students guarded by two police officers. 

\- Juliet : « Where is Thomas ? »  
\- Rick : « The minute he heard the alarm, he ran to found you at the library, are you alright ? » asked the blond teen, with worry all over his face.

Juliet closed her eyes, shaking her head « No, no, no, no, no… oh my god ! he's going to hurt Thomas ! » Unable to stop her tears, She tried to go back to the main building, but Mc Garrett grabbed her arm « you can’t go back there Juliet, stay here, I’m gonna see where he is ok ? »

Higgins nodded and watched Steve ran toward the library, hoping to found Magnum there.

On the way, he called Kono who was watching Sako in her rifle scope, she warned him : « I have a shot on Sako, what do you want me to do ? He seemed agitated... »

Mc Garrett : « don’t kill him ! We need him alive, he could lead us to Pryce, do you hear me ! We need him alive ! »

Another shot resonated through the corridor, interrupting him, Mc Garrett swore while running faster toward the blast sound. 

When he arrived in the library, he found the old Mrs Keene on the floor, trying to keep pressure on her stomach wound.

She looked at him with pain in her eyes, whispering : « he took him, he took Thomas ! »


	11. The bait

Richard was studying the boy on the screen, and he didn’t like what he was watching, at all.

His father was interrogating the teenager with his usual amount of torture, but it seemed like inflincting this kind of pain on this ‘what was his name yet ? ….Yeah Magnum !’ was utterly useless.

This kid had a very high pain threshold, like someone who was used to get beaten.

The poor teenager was Robin Master’s foster son, and apparently he had a hard life as an orphan, before meeting the writer. 

Abused children were difficult to deal with, because they were awfully resistant and so used to being hurt, that to scare them you had to find their weak point, and it was not a couple of punches thrown by an ex rich businessman.

The ugly sounds of flesh against flesh was sickening, the blows kept coming, one after another, giving no time to the kid to even breath through it.  
Personally, Richard wasn’t a fan of this pointless use of brute force.  
He was more a ‘cut you open with a razor’ kind of guy. 

Punching him endlessly was exhausting and not constructive, if he was in his father’s place, he was sure to find a more intelligent way to get what he wanted.

The level of violence used here was desperatly uncalled for and fruitless.

To his dad’s great disappointement and rage, Magnum kept talking back, laughing, spitting blood on his father’s pricey shirt, mocking him, while he was slowly loosing his patience, and that was never a good thing.

He was going to kill the kid, if he wasn’t careful, and loose his only leverage to get Juliet back.

Richard needed to retrieve what he considered his, he didn’t travel all the way to hawaii for nothing.

Using his family’s private jet, and risking to blow his cover, to see his father go on a stupid killing spree, because he couldn’t handle the idea, that his precious prey had a boyfriend.

His kidnapping attempt in high school failed miserably, despite using Sako as a diversion.

The H5.0 team kept Juliet safe, out of reach of her predator’s claws.

His father only managed to sedate Magnum and brought him here, hoping to use him as bait, to get to his blond little fairy back.

The thing was, that his dad always forgot that Juliet was no tinker bell, as cute as she was, she managed to escape him once because he underestimated her at the time, and now that she had a full team with her, things were only going to get harder and harder.

What was worring Richard, was that the police didn’t shot Sako like they wanted to, they arrested him and he was probably now spilling anything he knew about his father and his failed attempt at kidnapping Juliet.

It won’t be long until those H5.0 guys finally catched up with them and landed here. Richard didn’t want to be there, when it happened, so he needed a plan to do what his father couldn’t, taking Juliet back, and finally making her his.

**********************************

Magnum felt like he had been run over by a truck, there wasn’t a place on his body that didn’t hurt.

The constant taste of blood in his mouth and ringing in his ears didn’t mean anything good, he hoped that Mc Garrett reputation was rightfully earned, because if it wasn’t, he was going to die before seeing his family one last time.

He was glad that this fucker didn’t get his hands on Juliet, again, and the psychopath was so angry about it, that it was borderline ridiculous.

Magnum knew that provoking him, was not a good idea, being on the receiving end of his fist was proof of that.

But pushing his buttons and making him angrier and angrier, could lead him to make a mistake, and maybe, give him a useful information to get away from his prison.

Magnum was starting to get tired, he tried to think about something soft and warm, like Kumu’s arms around him when he woke up from a nightmare.

She never asked any questions, just tenderly brushed his sweaty hair out of his forehead, hugging him tightly and slowly rubbing his back to encourage him to go back to sleep, promising him only nice dreams for the rest of the night.

He remembered seeing Robin in the shadow of his doorway, watching them, stupid enough to believe that he wasn’t aware of his presence. 

Magnum was a lot things, but dense was not one of them, he was observant and smart, and he knew that each time he had a breakdown, when he first came to live in Robin’s nest, his godfather was there beside Kumu, to take over, if things went south.

Thomas was ashamed to admit that sometimes, waking him up from a nightmare was rather dangerous, overwhelmed with fear and pain, he could get violent when someone tried to touch him.

And poor Robin had received a punch or two, but never Kumu, her caring voice and gentle touch had a nearly magical effect on him, always bringing him back to reality without a fuss.

He would have died if he ever hurt this sweet woman, who remind him so much of his mother, he would do anything to hear her voice again.

The blows began to be weaker and weaker, Pryce was getting tired, Thomas was grateful for it, he was starting to be out of insults to throw at his torturer. 

He needed to rest, closing his eyes seemed like a good idea right now, even if he didn’t know if he was going to wake up in this hell hole or safely in hospital, or if he was just going to die.

*******************************

The face that Mc Garrett made when he saw, Franck ‘Icepick’ Hofstetler waiting for him in Robin’s nest, was the funniest thing the writer ever saw, if the situation wasn’t already so dramatic, he would have laughed out loud without refrain.

Robin needed all the means he could get to save his son, so working with a criminal was the least of his problems.

Rick’s father was a strange addition to the operation, but Robin was willing to team up with the devil itself to get his son back.

\- Mc Garrett : « do you have any idea of who you are inviting in your home ? That man is…. »  
\- Robin : « the father of my son’s best friend, and yes I’m aware of his illegal activities, I know who he is thank you very much ! »  
\- Mc Garrett : « he is a crime lord for god’s sake ! he is one of the most powerful mob boss in Chicago and Hawaii ! he could seriously geopardize the investigation ! »

Robin looked at Mc Garrett with an ice cold determination that the commander have never seen before, most of the time he looked like an excentric billionnaire playing investigator for the thrill missing in his privilege life, but right now, he was just a father ready to kill anyone threatening his child.

\- Robin : « I’m gonna say this once and once only, I trusted you to take care of my kids, and you failed ! I’m glad that you save Juliet, really I am, but letting my son get kidnapped by that serial killer was definetly a mistake that I won’t forgive you until you bring him back here alive ! And for that I‘ll used any means necessary, even working with a notorious crime boss ! I can’t wait for the police to get a warrant to take down Pryce, god knows what he’s doing to my son right now, so you only have one choice to make, are you with me ? or are you going to wait for a judge to stop banging his mistress to give you that fucking warrant ? »

It was the first time that Steve ever heard Robin swear, and he didn’t like being on the receiving end of his menacing rant. « Of course I’m in, I’m really sorry about Thomas… »  
\- Robin : « Don’t be sorry, be smart, what we need is solutions not complaints ! »

The weird trio sat together in the living room to organize Thomas’s rescue, unaware that Juliet had received on her phone, a gruesome video of Thomas being tortured.

The call she got afterward made her blood ran cold in her veins, the sound of his voice nearly put her in a catatonic state, but she couldn’t afford to freak out now, saving Magnum depended on her, she needed to be brave for him, Thomas was captured because of her, and there’s no way she was going to let him die in the hands of her predator.

Still listening to Pryce, who was giving her informations about the deal he wanted her to make, Juliet joined Kono and Catherine in the corridor to make them understand what was happening.

The two women were already tracing the call, and encouraged her to make him talk, but Pryce ended it too soon, and Juliet nearly thrown down her phone in rage, only stopped by Catherine gentle hand.

Juliet couldn’t hold her tears anymore, she fell into her arms to cry like a little girl missing her mother, she cried because she was scared of loosing Thomas, she cried because she was scared of going back to Pryce and reliving all of her worst nightmares again.

Nobody could tell for sure what was going to happened, but she was ready to take the risk anyway, because Thomas deserved to be saved, even if she had to sacrifice her own life for that.


	12. The choices we make

When Magnum woke up, the first thing he thought was « still not dead ». 

He wondered for a few seconds, if it was a good news or not.

He was sure he was alive, because if he wasn’t, his body wouldn’t hurt like this. 

His vision was blurred, the taste of blood and bile in his mouth was nauseating, the pulsating pain in his brain was a cruel reminder of his early predicament, he apparently survived through the first round of beating.

If he was dead, he would have been in heaven with his parents, floating on a goddamn fluffy cloud, and not chained to a wall in a creepy basement.

Magnum laughed half heartedly at the idea, he felt like he was slowly loosing his mind, he needed to clear his head and toughened up, because he wasn’t going to last long if Pryce wanted to repeat his Rocky Balboa performance.

His ribs were severely bruised, but not broken, the ringing in his ears had lessened, at least for now, he needed to be in shape to escape from this place, so he’d better do it fast, before that fucker got the wonderful idea to used all the tools hanged on the wall, on his already battered body.

At least the chain was long enough to let him sit down on the floor, Pryce had kept the chain loose, to let him rest a bit after he passed out. He definitly wanted to keep him alive. On what purpose ? Magnum didn’t want to know, that monster used to run a human trafficking ring in england, and he probably used his old contacts to run away from london and scotland yard.

So if Pryce was still involved with them, things were not going to end well for him.

Imagining himself being sold to a brothel, or to an old pevert who likes snuff movies, made Magnum shiver with fear and disgust.

He tried to calm down by controlling his breathing, panicking now was not going to help him, he needed to find a way to get out of here.

The shackles around his wrist were tight, but if he could dislocated his thumbs, he could get rid of them.

Picking the lock on the door wouldn’t be a problem, he definetly had a chance thought Magnum with a smile.

If he was going down, he wasn’t going to do it without a fight.

************************************************************************************************************************

When she heard the key in the lock, Amanda was prepared to see Pryce, or one of his guards, coming into her room to finally kill her.

She wasn’t ready to see her high school quaterback coming in, in what was left of his shredded uniform, his face beaten up, a bloody hammer in one hand, and a keyring in the other.

He looked like he just escaped from an horror movie, but she never felt happier to see him, at least she won't be alone in this hell anymore.

Amanda let out a sob, when he sat down on the bed next to her and gently cupped her cheeks « I’m gonna help you get out of here, so please, don’t make a noise and follow me, alright ? »

She nodded, silently crying in relief, trying hard to regain control over her emotions.

While Thomas was bent down to pick the lock on her handcuffs, a slightly disoriented guard, with an head injury, made his entry in the room, pointing a gun on them. « You little shit ! »

Magnum turned around with an almost comical frown on his bloody face, dramatically rolling his eyes « so you weren’t dead huh ? I guess you’re a little upset because you were beaten up by a kid huh ? »

His cheeky attitude made the guard was so angry, that he grabbed the annoying student by his collar to bring him closer, giving Magnum an opening to pushed his gun away and stabbed him in the neck, with the knife he kept hidden behind his back.

Magnum stayed there a few seconds, blinking, shocked by his own gesture, staring at the knife stuck in the guard throat. 

Ignoring the horrifying gurgling sound of the dying man, Amanda got up, and kicked him down to help her friend.

She nudged Thomas’s arm to bring him out of his stupor, they needed to move fast before their absences got noticed by the other guards.

With trembling hands, Thomas struggled to pick the lock. Upset and on the verge of tears, he bit his bruised lips, closing his eyes a few seconds, to breath slowly through his nose, trying to keep his emotions in check. 

Acting tough to rile up the guard was one thing, but killing him…Thomas didn’t feel so brave anymore.

A warm and gentle hand squeezed his bloody ones to bring him back to reality « you didn’t have a choice, you save my life. » whispered the young girl.  
Thomas nodded, pinching the bridge of his nose, he shook his hands and finished to free her from the handcuffs. 

Together they ran through the long dark corridors of the basement, this place was huge and labyrinthic, they managed to avoid a few guards, apparently nobody was aware of their escape yet.

When they reached the garage, hidden behind a truck, they finally saw what kept Pryce and his guards away for so long.

« You promised to take me to him, where is he ? » Juliet was there, surrounded by Pryce and his goons, handcuffed with a terrified look in her eyes, all bruised up with blood trickling down her face, and her shirt was torn open, Magnum didn’t like the implication of her injuries, how the hell did she end up in here ?

The only thing that kept him going was the certainty that she was safe with his family in Robin’s nest, now, there’s no way he would leave without her.

Magnum gave to Amanda the cell phone and the gun he stole from the dead guard, and asked her to leave as fast as she could, to call Robin for help.

Amanda shook her head terrified « I can’t do this alone, please, come with me, please » she begged. 

But Magnum was adamant, « I ‘ve already send my dad a text and asked him to ping this phone, help is coming Amanda, I can’t let them with Juliet, what Pryce is going to do to her is…. » He couldn’t even finished, so he gave her this message for his family « Tell my dad that I’m sorry, I wished I was a better son, but I love him and Kumu, they are the best thing that ever happened to me… » His eyes were filled with tears, he angrily brushed them away, and pushed Amanda outside through the door. 

He still had a knife and the hammer left with him, the gun was too loud anyway, now he needed a plan to save Juliet.

*********************************************************************************************************************** 

Higgins was escorted to Thomas’s cell by two guards, when she saw the blood on the floor, a cold shiver ran through her spine as she started to fear the worst, then she noticed the knocked out man lying next to the door, the empty shackles, and the rage distorting Pryce’s face, she couldn't hide her smile, he was alive, he got away.

« You think it’s funny ? » whispered her tormentor through his teeth, he grabbed her by the neck and squeezed hard enough to make her choke, and pushed her violently against the wall.

Her handcuffed hands were trapped between their bodies, she tried to push him away from her, but he was too strong « did you forget the good times we spent together two years ago ? Maybe you need a reminder ! My little fairy… »

‘My little fairy…..’ He used to call her like that while he was…..she bit her lip and closed her eyes as the painful memories assaulted her, after all this time she still couldn’t say the word, his smell, his hands on her body, the pain, the humiliation, Juliet felt the bile rising in her throat.

« OUT ! EVERYBODY OUT OF HERE ! » Screamed Pryce to his goons « My little fairy and I are going to spend some quality time together…find the kid and bring him here ! I want him to watch ! »

At his words Juliet started to panic « NO ! Please no….please… »

Satisfy with the scared look in her eyes, Pryce slowly licked her neck and bit the tender skin hard enough to draw blood.  
Higgins cried in agony, this is not happening, not again…

*******************************************************************************************************************************

Thomas had a plan, or more like a 'crazy idea', like Rick and T.C liked to call them. 

Juliet was in danger, and he had no time to think about something better.

He was alone, with only a hunting knife and a hammer to defend himself, those guys were way bigger and stronger than him, but he was fast, nimble as a cat, and he only needed to make it harder for them to capture him.

So he opened the oil reservoir of the truck, took of his shirt, and covered himself in grease, just before launching himself at the two guards left in the garage.

The two men were so surprised, that when they struggled to take their guns, Magnum dropped to the floor in a swift slide, and stabbed one with his knife and shattered the other’s knee in a sickening crunch.

He knocked out the two of them with his hammer, handcuffed them together, took their weapons and phone, and left to go find Juliet.

While running in the hallway, magnum met two other guards and tried to take them out the same way.

Saddly those two were a little faster to react, and pined him for one second to the floor. 

Only one second because he kept moving so much in their hands, and without his shirt, they had nothing but his greasy skin to grasp on.

The fight against the two men could have been almost comical, if Magnum wasn’t so worried about Juliet.

He ended it by slicing their thighs with his knife, aiming for the artery, and put them out cold with the hammer.

Magnum was exhausted, his ribs were killing him, maybe during the fight one of those bastards had broke one of them, he tried not to think about it.

He needed all his strength to save Juliet, he didn’t know how long he could last like this, he felt dizzy, the ringing in his ears was back, yeah, maybe next time avoiding the guards would be a better solution.

*************************************************************************************************************************************** 

Amanda felt like she had been running in the woods for hours, she stumbled and fell several times in the dark, her lungs were on fire, she didn’t know how long she could go on like that, but she was too scared to stop, so she kept running until the phone started to vibrate in her hand.

Following Magnum’s instructions she had called his father and he answered right away, giving her reassurance that help was on the way, they managed to locate their positions, all she needed to do was to stay hidden in the woods not too far from the road, and wait for them to arrive.

When she finally saw the rescue team running toward her, she sighed in relief and eventually let oblivion take over and fell into unconsciousness.

\- Mc Garrett : « Katsumoto ? you got her ? »  
\- Katsumoto : « Yeah ! But she’s alone, Thomas is not with her »  
\- Mc Garrett : « she said that he stayed behind for Juliet, we need to find them ASAP ! we lost contact with Juliet when Pryce found the wire »  
\- Katsumoto : « we knew it was going to happened, this is why you gave her the tracking device, and it worked ! we found their location ! »  
\- Mc Garrett : « Yeah, I just hoped it won’t be too late. »


	13. The dragonfly

Why was this happening to her ? What did she do to deserve this ?

Juliet worked so hard to be a good girl, and it was never enough.

The look in her father’s eyes when he came to see her in hospital, she will never forget it.

He was so angry at her, so disappointed, she disobeyed and went to Richard’s house, instead of going straight home and …..  
She had paid the price for being a bad girl, for not listening to her father.

The pain…..She remembered being in so much pain, that she couldn’t even walk by herself.

Each step felt like she was split in two, each step hurted so much that she couldn’t even breath. She had to lean on the wall to walk because she couldn't stand the nurses touching her, she wanted her mother, but she wasn’t there to help her, she missed her so much at the time. 

She wasn’t there to hold her hand during the humiliating exams, she wasn’t there during the fevers, the nightmares, the panic attacks.

But Juliet wasn’t mad at her mom, it wasn’t her fault, she was lost in her own head in another hospital, unaware that she even had a daughter.

Only the nurses were there, and she was so ashamed and so embarassed, she was bleeding again, and she couldn’t tell anyone how much it hurt.

She remembered slowly wandering in the hospital’s hallway during a sleepless night, delirious with fever, desperatly looking for a mom who would never come.

She had to hang onto the rail, because she was too weak to stand on her own.

The walls kept spinning around her, her slippers were red, she didn’t understand, they were white before.

She felt so confused, lost and lonely in this cold hospital, she kept dreaming about him and she was so scared, she had to go, she had to escape him, even if walking was so painful.

When she thought she was going to fall, Harry was there, to support her, wrapping his jacket around her waist, and lifting her in his arms to carry her back to her room. 

She cried so much in his arms, he was the only person who could comfort her back then, he refused to let her down until the sheets were changed, the blood, he knew she couldn’t handle the blood.

Most of the time she felt like a broken doll, manhandled and discarded between nurses and doctors.

She felt so dirty, so guilty, everybody was looking at her, except her father, his eyes kept avoiding her like he was ashamed of her, until he just stopped visiting her and sent her far away, where she couldn’t bother him anymore.

But before she left, Harry gave her a gift, he was so sad that she had to leave, he was so worried about her, and even when her father didn’t allow him to talk to her anymore, he came to say good bye.

She remembered him putting the long thin hairpin in her braid, it was simple, made of golden steel with a little dragonfly on it.

He said it was japanese and that the geishas used to put it in their hair, or hide it in their obi belt to protect themselves.

Her father thought it was an inappropriate gif for a lady, but she got so upset when he tried to get rid of it, that he let her keep the hairpin, claiming he was too tired to deal with her, she wasn’t a lady anymore anyway.

Since then, she always kept the hairpin with her, in her hair or in her bag, carrying it preciously everywhere like a lucky charm.

************************************************

Pryce was grunting against her, one of his hands against her throat choking her, and the other fumbling with his fly.

She needed to stop him right now, thought Juliet, before he found a better way to subdue her, before he remembered the syringe and the little bottle displayed on the table.

When she felt his hand going under her skirt, reaching out for her underwear, she started to panic. 

His hands were all over her, groping her, hurting her, forcing her legs open. He smiled, excited by the fear in her eyes, and when he tried to kiss her, his face suddenly paled, his sneer turning into a shocked and pained expression.

He looked down to see the golden hairpin disappear into his abdomen. Juliet twisted it, mercilessly tearing his inside apart, making him cry in pain. She tore it off in a swift move, making his blood spurt on her pleated skirt, like a scarlet rain running down her thighs in bright red rivulets.

Not waiting for him to recover from the shock, Juliet pushed him hard enough to make him stumble, and stabbed him again, this time in his only valid eye left, mercilessly plunging the thin blade into his face, until the fragile looking wings of the dragonfly were tainted in red.

« Protector of children » Harry told her, while he was intertwining the hairpin in the end of her long braid, « dragonflies are predators, killing mosquitoes and horse flies who could make children sick, they are little and insignificant looking, but they only fly forward, slaying their opponent without hesitation or retreat, they never back down » he said brushing her tears away.

« They were often emblazoned on the hilts of the swords of the highest ranking samurais, to identified the strongest one on the battlefield, you are a warrior Juliet, you got hurt, in the cruelest way, but you survived, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, you are the bravest little girl I ever met, and I’m so sorry I can’t protect you anymore. » 

« You did » thought Juliet with a sad smile, « you protected me until the end. »

*****************************************

Thomas was running like a mad man in the long corridors of the mansion, he looked like a demon covered in black oil from head to toe, with only his eyes and teeth shining in the dark.

He could hear gunshots being fired, he wasn’t sure who was the target, but he couldn’t wait to understand what was happening.

Maybe Mc Garrett and his team had finally found them, but Juliet needed him, and he was so scared of being too late already.

When he finally reached the room where he was detained, his heart broke when he saw her, trembling and nervously trying to pulled back her torn up clothes, her body covered in bruises and blood.

« Higgy…. I’m so sorry… » He couldn’t finished what he wanted to say to her, because Juliet suddenly jumped on him to stabbed him with a small thin blade. 

« HIGGY ! It’s me ! It’s Magnum, please listen to me ! » He struggled to stop the blade from piercing his chest, he didn’t want to hurt her more than she already was. « Listen to me please! I know I look weird, but it’s just the grease, it’s me Magnum ! »

Juliet seemed to recognize him, she blinked, studying his face, and put her hand on his chest to feel his beating heart.

Magnum sighed in relief and cover her hand with his « you remember ? You made my heart go wild when we kissed for the first time ! »

Juliet nodded with tears in her eyes, she was so happy to see him that she let her body fall against him, crying in relief and exhaustion, she burried her face in his neck as he closed his arms around her.

Thomas let her sob against his chest, he couldn’t stop staring at the corpse of Pryce lying not too far from them, he was relieved that he was finally dead, but they still needed to get out of here.

He gently cupped her cheeks to talk to her « Higgy, we need to move, we can’t stay here, can you walk ? »

Juliet knew what he was thinking, with the way he was looking at her, « he didn’t do anything to me, he tore my shirt open to look for a wire, he tried to… but, I stopped him, he didn’t …not all the way…I can walk… »

Magnum grabbed her hands to stopped them from trembling, lightly squeezing them « okay, it’s okay, I believe you. »

He brought their forehead together, gently stroking her cheek, the bite wound on her neck made him so angry that he wished he could have killed Pryce himself, but they didn’t have time to think about that, their only priority now was to escape this prison.

He freed her from the handcuffs and led her outside toward the garage, hoping they won’t meet another guard.

They ran as fast as they could, but he was the one having a hardtime following her, his side was killing him, and he felt weirdly colder and colder.

Thomas stopped to lean against the wall unable to go any further, he just needed a little break to catch his breath, he couldn’t stop the pounding in his head and his teeth from clattering, he felt like he was slowly going into shock, those damn guards really did a number on him.

« Magnum ? Are you okay ? » Juliet asked worried, with all the grease covering him she couldn’t see where he was hurt, or how pale he was.

Suddenly, the sound of hands clapping together, made her jump in fear, she was surprised to see Richard approaching while slowly applauding them, like a villain in a bad movie.

His smile was as cruel as his father’s, she remembered him now, he was there the whole time, watching while his dad was torturing her, how could she forget the look in his eyes, he wasn’t afraid, disgusted or horrified, the only thing she saw on his face was hunger and a twisted desire.


	14. Disobedience

Richard hated to get his hands dirty, usually there was always someone to do all the tedious work for him, but since his father has ended up like a butterfly on a pin, he had to handle Juliet’s annoying boyfriend by himself.

He knew the orphan was going to be a problem, the minute he got here.

Magnum took out five of his guards by himself and killed one of them, Richard had to admit it, he was impressed, if he wasn’t in a hurry, he would have love to take his time showing him a whole new level of pain.

He wasn’t going to do the same mistake than his dad, underestimating Juliet and her prince charming was probably what got him killed in the first place. 

He was dying to tame Juliet like a rebellious mare, and the idea of crushing their hope of escaping together, made his heart beat faster in anticipation. 

He followed their path with the cameras hidden all over the mansion, he took pleasure watching their struggle to survive, and felt a pang of jaleousy when he took her in his arms. 

He came here for her, and leaving without his prey wasn’t even an option.

He was glad that he had prepared everything, even before his father brought them in the facility, he felt a thrill of arousal running along his spine, and closed his eyes overwhelmed with excitation.

The cruel bow of his lips arched in a sadistic smile, the fear he could see in Juliet’s eyes was exhilarating, he couldn’t wait to have his hands all over her.

\- Richard : « Now now Juliet, you look upset, you’re not happy to see me ? »  
\- Juliet : « stay away ! » 

Juliet was desperatly trying to keep Magnum on his feet, she was worried about the glassy look in his eyes, his lack of response to Richard’s presence was proof of how hard he was struggling to breath, he looked like he wasn’t even aware of his surroundings, she needed to protect him at all cost.

She grabbed the gun Magnum stole from Pryce and pointed it toward his son. « Back of Richard ! » 

Richard didn’t even flinched, and with a very confident smile he took another step forward « I’m going to tell you exactly what is going to happened, first, you’re going to empty that gun and throw it far away, second, you’re going to put back those handcuffs on your wrist, and finally you’re going to kiss me Juliet, and not a little peck on the lips, noooo ! I want you to kiss me like you kissed him. »

\- Juliet : « Are you crazy ! I’ll never… » she was cut of by Thomas falling to the floor, crying in agony.

Juliet knelt down to cradle him with one arm against her chest, still holding the gun pointed toward Richard, she warned him « I will kill you ! »

Ignoring her threat, Richard showed her a small kit with a bottle and a syringe tuck inside of it, playfully tossing it in the air, waiting for her to recognized it.

When he saw her eyes widening with fear, and the hand holding the gun starting to shake, he knew she understood what he did.

\- Richard : « see ! this is why I like you Juliet, you’re so smart ! »  
\- Juliet : « you poisoned him. » the defeat in her voice made Richard smile even wider.  
\- Richard : « good girl ! I did it while he was passed out after father’s little tantrum, I would love to explain to you my whole plan, but we’re a little out of time so first, we need to keep those cops away » 

With a smug smile, he pressed a button on a remote he was keeping in his pocket, and several gates automatically closed in the corridor. 

\- Richard : « This place used to be an asylum, for once father choose a very nice location for his ‘activities’, it’s not very comfortable, but it’s practical….now stop disobeying me Juliet and put that gun down. » 

‘Disobeying’….He was upset because she was disobeying him, he talked exactly like her father.

Thomas was slowly dying in her arms, and he wanted to play with her like a child would play with a puppet.

He wanted to kiss her, he wanted the only thing she shared with Thomas, the only thing that made her happy and kept her heart beating.

The truth was, Juliet was done being their doll to toy with, she was done being tortured…..and raped….

She blinked, angrily chasing away her tears, it was the first time she said the word even in her mind, and it hurt. 

It hurted so much that she wanted to scream, to Richard, to Pryce, to her father, that all the wounds they inflincted on her since then, never stop bleeding.

Each time they hurted her, she endured the pain thinking that she deserved it, and she bled silently, alone, not even trying to understand why, she just kept bleeding and hurting for so long until she felt she was finally completely drained.

All the shame, the pain, the anger she felt since Pryce tore her apart, turned into a wave of rage.

Every nightmare, every hurtful word came back in a rush and she couldn’t take it anymore, she refused to do it.

The ragged breath escaping Magnum’s mouth were getting shorter and shorter, he was blinking like he was trying to understand what was happening.  
He squeezed her hand, trying to get her attention, and when her eyes finally connected with his, Juliet knew what she had to do.

The shriek Richard let out when she shot him in the arm, was almost comical. « You shot me ! You bitch ! You… » She cut him of buy putting another bullet in his thigh.

Richard rolled on the floor holding his leg, pathetically crying in pain.

\- Juliet : « you told me to empty the gun, I am just listening to you ! »

Juliet knew that if she complied to what he was asking, there’s no way he would let Thomas live, she would just end up as helpless as before, unable to save the most important person in her life.

When Richard tried to take a gun out of his jacket, Juliet stepped on his arm, mercilessly crushing it, and kicked his gun away from his reach.

She pointed the gun at his crotch this time « where is the antidote Richard ? You’d better tell me the truth, because for each answer I don’t like, I’m gonna put a bullet in you ! »

\- Richard : « he’s going to die, and it will be your fau… »  
Juliet didn’t let him finished and fired another one in his knee, making him howl in agony. 

\- Juliet : « if he dies, you will die Richard, and very slowly, for someone who like to torture people you don’t handle pain very well. »

Giving him no time to recover, she kicked him in the face, making him see stars, and reached in his pocket to grab the bottle and the syringe. 

She prepared another injection and without warning, stabbed him with it.

Richard screamed, holding his arm with panic all over his face « What did you do ? YOU POISONED ME ! »

\- Juliet : « Don’t waste my time Richard, where is the antidote ? »

The cold determination he saw in her eyes was frightening, gone was the helpless, traumatized young girl he and his dad preyed on.

He made the same mistake than his father, he underestimated her.

He was so sure he could succeed where his father had failed, how wrong was he to think that he could subdue her, by using Magnum as a leverage.

She didn’t even tried to negotiate, she just shot him.

He thought he could handle her if her stupid boyfriend was hurt and out of commission, he was so convince that he had everything covered, he didn’t think about her standing for herself and for the man she loved, maybe using Magnum was his mistake, for him she was ready to risk everything.

Defeated, Richard replied with a weak and trembling voice.

\- Richard : « there’s a black SUV waiting for me outside, on the north side of the asylum, it’s in the glove compartment. »

Juliet grabbed Magnum’s phone and call the last number, she got Robin right away and gave him the instructions for the antidote and her location in the mansion. 

She picked up the remote and opened the gates, waiting for Mc Garrett and his team to arrive.

She sat down next to Magnum and pull him against her, tenderly cradeling him in her arms, she was so scared to loose him.  
The idea of living without Thomas was unbearable, she bit her lip, trying to stay strong for him, he’s always been there for her, always by her side.

He went through so much because of her, she could feel his broken ribs under his skin, he was burning with fever, the swell of his face and the uneven pupils only told her how gravely hurt he was.

Still keeping her gun pointed toward Richard, she warned him, narrowing her eyes with a grim determination « You’d better pray he doesn’t die. »


	15. I saw the sun rise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I stole the chapter's title from the pilot of the show, I had a hard time finding one myself, so sorry ! 😅

Steve Mc Garrett was used to the cruelty of this world, he had seen what he believed was the worst of humanity during war, while working cases for H5.0, or during his own childhood.

He saw enough to believe that it wouldn’t hurt him anymore, that he was somehow immune to it, at least, he thought he was.

He was trained to fight against it, he was prepared to witness all of it, but finding two sixteen years old children, ‘yes to him they were still just children’, gravely hurt and traumatized, in the middle of a facility full of the worst kind of criminals you could imagine, was pushing the limit of his sanity.

He would never forget the look of despair and fear in Juliet’s eyes, while she was trying to keep Magnum awake, his head lolling in her arms, his eyes unfocused with uneven pupils and blood leaking from his ears, completely unresponsive.

Those symptoms……definitly bad news, thought Mc Garrett.

They were both injured, Juliet with her clothes torn apart, bruised and blood all over her, and Magnum lying down in her arms weirdly covered in black goo, way too still for his usual energetic self.

Something was wrong, something was very wrong, and who was the ‘clockwork orange’ cosplayer sitting across them, bathing in his own blood ?

Mc Garrett called Robin to warn him that he found the kids, the writer immediately explained about the antidote and Thomas injuries. They were coming as fast as they could, they needed to keep him awake and breathing, a medevac was already coming to rush Thomas to hospital.

Steve could feel Robin’s fear in his tone, he couldn’t imagine what it was to have his own child between life and death.

He remember the pain of loosing his father, but loosing a son seemed so much worst and heartbreaking.

He promised to bring both Thomas and Juliet back alive, now he wasn’t so sure anymore, he felt like he had failed them in so many ways.

********************************************************************************************

\- Icepick : « how many guys did that kid took out by himself ? »  
\- Katsumoto : « five, and one of them is dead. » Replied the detective in a monotonous voice.  
\- Icepick : « Damn ! And not even a single gunshot ! I should hire him ! that kid is fucking good ! »

Detective Katsumoto didn’t like the implication of his unusual partner's poor attempt of humor, since when kids forced to kill people to defend themselves was a good thing.

He always thought that Magnum was a walking trouble magnet, not because he was mean or stupid like most of bullies, but because he was a stubborn little shit that love to play the hero.

The thing was, people don’t like heroes, most of the time, being a hero makes you a target, and Katsumoto didn’t want his son being friend with someone walking around with a target on his back.

He knew enough thanks to his own experience, that people were always glad to see you when they needed your help, but when things don’t go their way, you’re the one responsible for all the shit in their life.

Magnum genuinely care for the people he wanted to help, probably because himself went through so much growing up, he was ready to risk his own life to save anyone, because he wished someone had help him back then, like Robin Masters did.

He was selfless and kind, and being such a caring person was probably the reason why he was dying right now, murderer like Pryce don’t care about right or wrong, on the contrary they loved to use the goodness of his heart against him.

Life was unfair, no kid should suffer like Juliet and Magnum did.

Katsumoto sighed in relief when he saw the chopper landing, and the EMT rushing toward them, let’s get those kids back home he thought, he was tired of seeing children getting hurt.

*****************************************************************************************************

When Robin arrived with the antidote, Mc Garrrett released a breath of relief he didn’t know he was holding.

Seeing the writer struggling to prepare the injection was proof of how upset he was, Steve knew that the writer was too overwhelmed to do the job, so he grabbed the kit and the writer’s hands to steady them and suggest : « I’ll do it, just hold him okay ? »

Robin nodded, and hold his son down while Mc Garrett injected him with the antidote.

Suddenly Magnum started to jerk, his body wrecked with violent seizures, panicking Juliet sobbed unable to control her tears anymore « No, no, no, no, please….Magnum ! »

Furious and desperate she turned around, pointing her gun toward Richard « You said it was the antidote ! What did you do ? »

\- Richard : « It is the antidote ! I wouldn’t lie about that ! I need a shot too ! » Richard backed away from her, he winced at his inappropriate choice of words, ‘an injection’ he thought, ’I need an injection too !’  
\- Mc Garrett : « It’s true, he has a concussion, a bad one, this why he’s seizing, he needs hospital, now ! »

The navy seal took Thomas in his arm and carried him toward the garage, he probably shouldn’t move him in his condition, but they were out of time, and he wasn’t going to let Magnum die without doing anything.

Holding him with all the grease was rather difficult, even after Juliet attempt at cleaning him up to get a better view at his injuries, the kid kept slipping in his arms.

Mc Garrett was relieved to see the EMT running toward him, he dropped Thomas’s body on the stretcher while giving all the informations they needed, they worked fast to stabilize him, and Steve finally breathed again when he saw Robin with his son leaving in the helicopter.

Mc Garrett looked around to see Pryce’s goons being cuffed by Katsumoto and Icepick’s men, this place looked like a battlefield.

He admitted that the mob boss’s crew was a great addition to this operation, without Icepick’s contribution, it would have take a lot more time to get to the kids, and even with their help, he was scared that it was too late for Thomas.

Steve went back to the hallway, to see Juliet threatening to shoot Richard.

The anger he saw in her eyes was painful to watch, when he wanted to intervene and stop her from killing the kid, Icepick took her in his arms.

He pushed her gun down, holding her and gently prevented her from doing something, that could haunt her for the rest of her life.

Mc Garrett noticed that she didn't flinch when he touched her, she was still tense though, with fire burning in her eyes.

\- Icepick : « you don’t want that kind of blood on your hands kiddo. Don’t taint them for someone like him. »  
\- Juliet : « They’re already tainted, I killed his father. » she replied with a trembling voice filled with rage and despair.

Icepick brushed a few strands of hair red with blood away from her face, he slightly bent down to carry her in his arms like a little girl « They’re not tainted, you did what you needed to do to survive, you did well, you save Magnum. »

At the mention of his name, Juliet dropped the gun on the floor, and started to cry, heartbreakingly sobbing against his chest, she put her arms around him and let him carrying her out of the asylum.

Icepick stroke her back to comfort her « Don’t worry sweetheart, he‘ll be okay, that kid is like a cat, he always land on his paws and he didn’t spend all his nine lives already, he won’t die I promised. »

Juliet nodded her face burried in his neck, she lightly pushed him away to stand on her own. She thanked him brushing her tears away, and walked out to leave this hell hole by herself.

Mc Garrett was overwhelmed by the scene in front of him, the truth was, knowing what Harry told him about Juliet’s father, he was sure that Icepick was a far better dad than hers.

Mc Garrett crouched down in front of Richard, narrowing his eyes in a menacing look. « Now Richard, you’re gonna spill everything I want to know, or you’re not gonna make it outside of here. »

Richard replied with a sneer « you can’t do anything to me ! I’m a minor, and you didn’t give me my injection ! You’re the one going to prison ! »

Mc Garrett smiled « Oh yeah ! The antidote ! » And he stabbed Richard in his injured leg with the syringe, eliciting a scream from the teenager.

Katsumoto turned his head around « I didn’t see that. »

\- Richard : « I put cameras everywhere, I will sue you ! »  
\- Mc Garrett : « so you were aware of what was going on in this place ?….. » 

Steve let the information sink with the young murderer, he smiled when he saw his eyes widening with fear, the thing with narcissistic psychopath like him, they liked to talk, like a lot, always bragging about how smart they were, how perfect their plans was.

In the end he was just a cruel little kid, taking pleasure in hurting people in the most sadistic ways, Steve didn’t think he desserve to be spared because of his young age, no punishment was enough for what he and his father did to all those girls and their family. 

« Richard Pryce, you’re under arrest for attempt of murder, kidnapping and rape, you’re going to spend the rest of your life in prison, I’ll make sure of it ! »

Mc Garrett walked out of the asylum to see the sun rise, this night was going to be in his nightmares for a long time.

He couldn’t imagine what those kids went through in the hands of those monsters, he was glad to see Juliet hugging Amanda in the ambulance, for both of them it was time to heal now.

Of course moving forward after everything that happened was going to be long and difficult, but knowing how strong they were, he had no doubt that they were going in the right direction, everything was going to get better, they just needed Thomas along the way.


	16. Dark little red spots

White, the only thing that Magnum could see was pure white everywhere.

Everything was blurry around him, Thomas felt like he was slowly walking through some thick white fog, unable to see clearly his surroundings.

He had a hard time figuring out where he was, and the disturbing feeling of blindness was starting to freak him out.

He tried to focus on his breathing to calm down, he stopped moving to concentrate on the sounds around him, but the only things he could hear was a regular bip and some people talking in the background.

Their conversations were resonating in his ears, but he couldn’t understand what they were talking about, it was like they were all around him, and so far away at the same time.

Magnum was fed up with his eyes and ears playing trick on him, the lack of control over his body was frightening.

The confusion and loneliness he was feeling was overwhelming.

He was so tired to walk around not knowing where to go, if only he could reach those people, he knew that they were important to him, that with them he could be safe, but each time he made a step in their direction, they kept fading away from him, leaving him completely disoriented and scared .

After wandering around aimlessly for a while, Thomas let the exhaustion take over, the weight he felt on his shoulders was too heavy anyway, he needed to rest, so he closed his eyes once again and let his mind drift away.

*****************************************************************************************************************************************

Broken ribs, punctured lungs…..he wasn’t talking about Thomas…..

Pneumothorax, severe concussion…….Robin refused to believe what he was hearing, his son was going to be okay……

Subdural hematoma……….Coma…..

All those words sounded so strange, coming out of the mouth of this doctor thought Robin, he tried to sound empathetic while talking about his son's injuries, but he was failing miserably. 

After hours of surgery, they were going to keep Magnum in intensive care unit because he was still in a critical condition, and that surgeon kept telling them they should prepare themself.

Prepare for what ? He was not going to loose his son, Magnum was not going to die.

Just a few minutes ago, Amanda told him about Thomas’s heartbreaking message for him, it was the first time that he ever called him Dad after all this time, Robin refused to even think about living in a world where his son would be dead.

The writer felt like he was talking about somebody else, he couldn’t be talking about the lively boy he welcomed in his house a few years ago.

He remembered how hard it was to keep Magnum in one place for five minute, that kid was always up to some mischief, non stop talking and running around like a squirrel on sugar rush, driving all the staff crazy, only Kumu could handle the over energetic teenager. 

But now he was just a shadow of himself, his pale body laying down in this cold hospital bed, with all those machines monitoring him, seeing his son like this was so painful that Robin had a hard time to breath.

He felt a pang of guilt thinking about Magnum’s dad, how could he call Thomas his son, when he failed protecting him like he promised to his former best friend.  
He would never forget the moment when Thomas’s heart stopped in the helicopter.

They managed to revive him, but even the EMT who dealt with so many death and traumas in their line of work, were overwhelmed by the idea of loosing someone so young.

All the bruises and cut on his boyish face looked painful, the amount of violence that Pryce inflicted on his son made the writer so angry, that he wished he was still alive to make him pay for what he did to Thomas.

Like he could feel the rage emanating from him, Icepick pat his back to reassure him and offered : « If you need anything….I mean anything…I know a guy who can make Pryce’s kid disappear, even in a prison…..it would be even easier… » 

Icepick was dead serious when he whispered those words, studying him with his piercing blue eyes, the mob boss had always like Magnum, he was grateful that he befriend his son Rick when he first arrive in Hawaii, he genuinely cared about him, but Robin had enough with kids getting hurt or murdered, he would never agree to this.

« Thanks my friend, I know you are angry about what happened to my son, but I need to be able to look at him in the eyes when he wakes up…. » 

With a small smile Robin left to sit in the plastic chair next to Magnum’s bed, he took his cold hand in his and started telling him about the new project he had in mind, maybe being a journalist wasn’t for him anymore, he wanted to write a story about a hero with a big heart, who would do anything for his family and his friends. 

He had already written a few aventures in his mind, and he needed Magnum to wake up to hear them.

*************************************************************************************************************************

Juliet couldn’t stop staring at her shaky hands, she wanted to wash them, to scrub them clean of the blood darkening her pale skin, the blood of Thomas and…..Pryce.

She hated those ugly dark red spots covering her fingers and palms, why were they preventing her from getting rid of them, she already told them what she did, she killed Pryce….she killed him …..

These hands were the hands of a murderer.

Magnum knew what she did, she confessed to the police, and she told her father when the detective called him over the phone.

She killed Pryce and she nearly killed his son too, she was bad, her father was right, she was a bad girl, this is why Thomas was dying, he got hurt because he was involved with her…..

Juliet jumped when she felt Kumu’s hand on her shoulder « Juliet ? Are you alright ?…..did you speak with your dad ? »

Higgins kept her eyes on the floor, she didn’t want Kumu to see how scared she was, just after a short conversation with her father : « Yes, he’s coming….he will be here tomorrow… »

Kumu put a blanket on her trembling shoulders and tried to comfort her, but Juliet rejected her warm embrace and gently pushed her away : « Don’t….the blood….I’m dirty… I don’t…» 

« You don’t what Juliet ? What did your dad tell you ? »

Seeing the worried look in Kumu’s eyes, she corrected herself : « they need to take pictures… we can’t temper the evidences »

Kumu gave her a sad smile and brushed her hair out of her bruised face « I know sweetheart, but I already talked to detective Katsumoto and he didn’t see any problems with me keeping you company and comforting you, CSU is coming right now, and I’m asking you Juliet, do you want me to stay ? » Kumu cupped her swollen cheeks to look straight into her eyes.

Juliet was fighting her tears so hard, she knew she didn’t desserve her attention, but she was so scared, she really wanted her to stay with her.

Those exams were so horrible, all the poking and proding, the invasive procedures, she knew she had to endure all of it by herself, she didn’t want Kumu to be tainted by them because of her « You can’t, it’s against the protocol »

« The detective told me himself that I could stay with you, really, he doesn’t mind, it’s okay Juliet, you are going to be okay, and if you want to stop or need a break just tell me alright ? I’m not going anywhere ? » 

This time Juliet let Kumu take her in her arms, she burried her face in her neck and whispered with a small trembling voice « you won’t go ? »

« I won’t leave you baby girl, I‘ll stay as long as you want »


	17. Coma

« Cariño… »

Warm and gentle hands were caressing his face, Thomas felt safe and comfortable, was it a dream ? 

A memory, from a long time ago ?

Magnum never felt so appeased in a very long time.

Waking up with someone tenderly brushing his hair out of his forehead, and slowly grazing his cheek was so soothing, he wondered if he really wanted to get out of his peaceful slumber, is the person next to him going to disappear if he opened his eyes ?

« Thomas ? Cariño ? You need to wake up, it’s time ….. »

He knew this voice, Magnum heart started to beat faster, it was impossible, it couldn’t be real or maybe….

« You’re not dead my son, it’s not your time yet, this is why you need to wake up. »

Magnum grabbed her hands tightly, his face showing suddenly all the sadness and grief, he spent his short life hiding from everybody.

To his family, to his friends, he was always ‘fine’, he was that happy go lucky child charming everyone around him, he refused to be a burden for them, so he kept smiling, even when all he wanted to do was cry.

The person he missed the most was talking to him, and he was so afraid to open his eyes, he didn’t want her to vanish, like she did so many times in his dreams or during his nightmares, he wanted her to stay, even if he had to die to be with her.

« Thomas mi cariño, you need to wake up, there are people waiting for you, they love you so much, they will be so heart broken without you, they need you, I know you’re tired, I know how much you suffered, but wonderful things are still waiting for you, your life is not over my son. »

Still refusing to open his eyes, Magnum burried his face in his pillow and held her hand tightly against his cheek.

They won’t miss him, he thought, after what he did in the asylum, he wasn’t sure he was the same person anymore, or if they still wanted him in their life.

« Of course they still love you, you’re a good person my son, you’re a hero, never forget that, I’ll show why you need to go back to those people who care so much about you, I’ll show you the life you’re going to miss if you stay here with me, I’ll show you why you need to wake up…. »

****************************************************

Magnum was nervous as hell, the tuxedo, the tie, seriously ! Was it really necessary ? Why do people make such a big deal about prom anyway ? It’s just a freaking party !

« For the hundredth times Thomas, can you stop fidgeting ? !!! » asked a very amused Robin « I can’t help you with your tie if you don’t stop moving around, you don’t have to be so nervous, everything will be okay. »

« I’m not nervous ! I ‘m cool, I’m really cool… » Shrugged Magnum

« Of course you are » replied the writer with a smile.

Magnum gazed into his adopted father’s eyes, he saw how proud of him he was, there was so much affection in his warm grey iris, that he was overwhelmed with all the care and attention he got from his surrogate dad.

He couldn’t stop himself from thinking, he was responsible for the tired lines around his kind eyes.

Magnum used to feel a little guilty calling him ‘dad’ after waking up from his coma, to him it was like betraying his real father, but time passed and he got more comfortable doing it.

The writer and Kumu were his family now, he had been so close to loose them, he wasn’t going to waste his time being afraid of his own feelings anymore.

Robin gave him so much through the years they spent together as a family, Magnum knew that he could never thank him enough for being there for him, for saving him.

The writer finished adjusting his tie and pat his arm with a watery smile « here ! You’re all good Thomas ! Ready to impressed Juliet ? »

Magnum nodded and in a rush of emotions, he pulled his dad in a warm embrace : « Thanks dad ! Thanks for everything ! »

Robin tighted his arms around him and whispered « you’re welcome my son ! »

*************************************************

The white fog covered the scene, making everything blurry again, Thomas clenched his fist wondering what was going on.

« Shhhhh…It’s okay….Calm down, I’m just showing you little glimpse of your future life…… You have nothing to be afraid of.»

« Is it real ? »

« Of course it is, I won’t lie to you, there will be hard times to come too, it won’t be perfect, but even with those dark events, you will be happy Thomas. »

« With Juliet ? »

« Yes mi cariño, with her, she’s the love of your life, this is why you need to live my son, I’ll show you, it’s not over… »

***************************************************

Magnum could hear that regular bip sound again, he felt the bandages restraining his arms, holding him down, he couldn’t move, he couldn’t breathe, the pain, there was so much pain, everything hurt, until he felt a gentle hand on his cheek, slowly grazing the swollen skin of his face, he closed his eyes listening to her voice : « It’s okay, you’re fine, you’re safe now, it’s over Thomas, I found you…. »

It was Juliet, he was sure of that, she was older, with her dark hazel eyes looking at him with so much love and relief.

Her blond curls were cut shorter around her shoulders, but she was even more beautiful, more mature, not a shy young girl anymore.

She looked strong and confident, she dismissed the nurse trying to prevent her from cutting his restraints, with one look and a raised eyebrow.  
The nurse left them alone defeated, this Juliet was hard and commanding, she freed him from the unforgiving bandages holding him down, with a tender smile.

She brushed a few strands of hair out of his forehead and kissed him gently on his bruised lips.

« I thought I lost you, I was so scared, I thought you were dead… »

He felt her tears running down her face and soaking his pillow, she found him, after he spent a year and half in a POW camp, being tortured and nearly getting himself killed while escaping.

She saved him and his brothers, she brought them back from this refugee camp where they were hidden, she brought him back home.

***************************************************

Magnum felt like someone was crushing his heart, his breathing became erratic, he was back in the white room again.

She squeezed his hand to reassure him : « You’re okay Thomas, don’t be afraid, you will overcome this, I promised, you’ll survive. »

« They tortured me ! Again ! For so long ! Why ? Why are they doing this to me ? »

« I’m sorry cariño, I can’t tell you everything, but they won’t break you my son, they won’t, you’re so strong, you fought so hard to save your brothers, you fought to return to her, you will be happy Thomas, she will give you the family you crave for so long, you will build a home with her, I promised… »

**************************************************

Magnum couldn’t get enough of her, he let a trail of kisses along her shoulder toward the tiny beauty spot under her ear, hungrily sucking the tender skin there until it bruised, elliciting a moan of pleasure from Juliet.

She pulled his hair to hold him tight against her, slowly massaging his scalp and tangling her fingers into his dark silky strands.

She crushed his lips in a passionate kiss, exploring his mouth with her tongue, teasing the little scar on his upper lip, licking it gently, only stopping to catch her breath.

They were supposed to have a nice picnic in a secluded little creek they found, during their walk down the private beach of the house they rented, but the diner was left forsaken not far away from them, they were starving for something else, it was their honeymoon afterall.

They barely left their room since their arrival in Italy, shamelessly spending their time making love at every hours of the day.

Botticelli could wait, Magnum thought, he had his own venus to satisfy.

Juliet started to unbuttoned his shirt, leaving hungry kisses all over his chest, Thomas groaned in pleasure, but grabbed her hands to stop her ministrations : « Higgy…Wait…wait a minute »

She purred into his ear « what…what is it ? » Her face was flushed with desire, her pupils blown, Magnum felt like a moth attract to flame, unable to resist her : « Condom…fuck ! I forgot them in our room. »

Juliet gave him a knowing smile and brought him down to kiss his lips, whispering in a breath : « It’s okay….let’s make a baby then… » 

She studied his face waiting for his reaction, they never really talk about it, but she knew he always wanted a family, so she was practically sure he was going to be on board with this.

Thomas answered with a big smile on his face : « Our babies are going to be so beautiful ! »

She bit her lip, fighting her tears, she only had happy ones, ever since they got married.

She wondered what did she do to deserve such a wonderful man in her life, she was blessed in so many ways since the day they first met.

They were going to be happy, she had no doubt about it.

************************************************

« Mom… » Magnum didn’t want to leave her, but the last vision convinced him, he needed to go back to Juliet, to his family and to his friends.

He wished she could be there with him, to enjoy all this important moments in his life. « I missed you so much, I love you Mom... »

« I know mi cariño, I love you too my son, I will always be by your side, don’t be afraid, I’ll protect you Thomas ! »

Magnum felt a tender kiss on his forehead, she gently brushed his tears away, and when he finally opened his eyes, she disappeared in the white light of his hospital room…


	18. Juliet's father

« Lady Juliet ! Please Lady Juliet ! Your father is waiting for you ! Open the door ! Please… »

Juliet couldn’t stop scrubbing her hands, the scalding hot water was not enough to clean them, she still felt the stickiness of the blood on her skin, she could even see the dark ugly spots staining her fingers.

The annoying voice of Mrs Gray and her constant pounding on the bathroom door didn’t get her out of her trance, Juliet kept trying to wash away some blood, that only her could see in her mind.

After spending the night battling against her nightmares, Juliet took hours to prepare herself for her father’s arrival.

She tried so hard to get rid of the smell of Pryce’s blood and saliva on her skin, that she nearly scrubbed herself raw.

She could still feel his hands on her, everywhere, tearing her shirt open and under her skirt, she kept reviving the lapse of time she spent in the van with him, even if he didn’t go all the way like a few years ago, she still felt horribly violated.

She tried to fight back, she tried so hard, but this time Pryce wasn’t alone, and the only thing she managed to do was earning herself a nasty cut on her head and a light concussion, while he took his time tormenting her with the help of his goons holding her down.

Juliet was so angry, so ashamed, she clenched her jaw hard trying to not to cry, her hands were trembling with contained rage, she wasn’t ready to face her father, not with those horrible dirty bloody stained fingers.

Lord Higgins had enough of this nonsense, he came all the way from england to see his daughter and there’s no way he was going to wait another minute.

« Mrs Gray, if you don’t want to find yourself in the obligation to look for another employment, I suggest that you get another key and opened this bloody door right now ! »

« It won’t be necessary Mrs Gray, I’m coming. »

Just the sound of her father’s voice brought her back to reality, poor Mrs Gray was going to get in trouble because of her, she had to face him, trying to live up to his expectations was pointless anyway, she wasn’t good enough, she never will be.

Juliet opened the door to see her father, as always his hard and cold eyes were studying her from head to toes.

His sight locked on her slender figure, searching for the detail that wasn’t proper for a lady.

She had to be perfect in every circumstances, even after being beaten and assaulted.

To her father, the family’s image was everything, she had to take care of her presentation all the time.

So she choosed an ivory shirt with long sleeves to cover her bruises, a wide black silky skirt that reach below the knees, and she let her hair down on her shoulders to hide the bite wound on her neck.

Lord Higgins eyes pointed with a raised eyebrow, the little golden hair clip, she wore to keep the rebel strands away from her stitches on her hairline.

Juliet deliberately ignored him, the hair sticking to her stitches hurt, so he was going to deal with the hair clip, happy or not.

In england she couldn’t even choose her own outfits, Mrs Gray was in charge of picking the right dress, with the right shoes, being part of the Higgins family came with a price, the price of perfection in appearance and in mind.

« Mrs Gray can’t you do something to hide those stitches ? »

« I’m sorry Lord Higgins, but the doctor said »

« I’m not asking Mrs Gray ! I don’t care about the doctor’s order, I don’t want to see those ugly things on my daughter’s face, did I made myself clear ! »

The poor woman gave Juliet an apologetic look and tried to reach for the hairclip, but Juliet slammed her fist in the bathroom door, hard enough to maker her jump in fear. 

Her anger wasn’t directed toward her governess, Juliet's eyes were locked on her father’s rigid face : « Really Father ? You came all the way from London to lecture me about my hairstyle ? Are we even going to talk about what happened ? » 

Lord Higgins was sligtly startled by her attitude, until now she had never raised her voice in his presence, and he didn’t like this change of behaviour one bit.

« What do you want to talk about Juliet ? Tell me ! Do you want to talk about the fact that I send you here to get away from the pressure of the police and the press, and despite of all my efforts, you managed to get yourself involved with Pryce AGAIN ! » 

« Involved ? INVOLVED ? » Juliet felt all the anger she kept inside of her for so long, litterally bursting out of her in a wave of pure rage.

« I didn’t get involved with him ! He kidnapped me ! He assaulted me ! HE RAPED ME ! Do you have any idea of what he did to me ? The pain and the torture I went through ! Do you think I wanted this ! »  
She screamed at him showing him the lacerations of the handcuffs on her wrist, she wanted him to see how hurt she was, she wanted him to see what Pryce and his son did to her.  
« He beat me ! He electrocuted me ! He pushed needles under my nails just to see me beg and cry ! It wasn’t my fault that he raped me until I bled, it wasn’t my fault that he ripped of my nails one by one, it wasn’t my fault… » 

Juliet was fighting her tears so hard, she didn’t want to cry but she couldn’t stop them from running down her face, she wanted to be strong in front of him, but his unforgiving eyes told her that her father didn’t care about her tears anyway.

Lord Higgins was furious, absolutely nobody had the right to talk to him in a such disrespectful way, he refused to aknowledge the gruesome details of the previous ‘incident’, he didn’t came here for this, he came here to bring her back home and stop her from creating another scandal. 

He wasn’t going to let her tarnish his reputation because of her roguish behaviour, he narrowed his eyes and replied : « How did you met Pryce, in the first place, Juliet ? What did I told you concerning his son ? »

Juliet was petrified, all the past scenes in the Pryce mansion, came back rushing in her head.

She felt the bile rising in her throat and her heart started to beat faster.

« What is it Juliet ? You don’t remember ? I’ll refresh your memory, I told you to stay away from him Juliet ! I warned you that he was sleeping around with a lot of girls in your high school, but you were interested in him, you like the attention, and you followed him to his place when I strictly forbid you to go anywhere but straight home after class »

« Lord Higgins please… » Mrs Gray was beyond pale she tried to put herself between her employer and his daughter. The poor housekeeper was terrified, she knew how violent he could be with his daughter when he was mad, she didn't want history to repeat itself, again and again.

« Get out of here Mrs Gray ! RIGHT NOW ! »

She tried to leave with Juliet by taking her trembling hands, but Lord Higgins stopped her : « Without Juliet ! I am not finished with her ! »

The poor woman gave Juliet a sad look before leaving, she closed the door behind her, she knew what she had to do, she was tired to see the same violent scenes repeat themselve between Juliet and her father, years after years, this time she had to do something, she guessed she will have to look for a new job, Lord Higgins won’t forgive her after this one last call.

******************************************************************************************************************************

Steve Mc Garrett was smiling, he didn’t think he had the energy nor the will to do it, after all they went through lately.

He was exhausted after spending endless hours of paperwork, to retranscript all the ramblings of Richard Pryce, about their sickening « activities » in the asylum and in London.

The only thing he wanted to do was sleep for days, and tried to forget for a few moments, how cruel this world could be.

But after Robin told him that his son had finally woke up from his coma, he was so happy that he immediately went to the hospital to see for himself, if the kid was okay.

Watching the shocked look on Magnum’s face, when his friend Rick told him that the grease idea was one of his craziest plan ever because engine oil was highly flammable, made him burst of laughing, with tears welling in his eyes. 

Icepick’son kept joking and teasing Magnum, trying to make him smile even under the oxygen mask.

Seeing them talking and bantering about his exploits against the guards was comforting, but he didn’t missed the sadness and the haunted look in Magnum eyes though, even if he was smiling with his friends and family, something wasn’t right with the kid, he did kill someone in self defense, but he knew from experience that the act of taking a life was traumatizing, regardless of the situation, specially for someone so young.

Maybe seeing his girlfriend will help chase away his dark thoughts, the navy seal wondered where she was, did she even knew that Magnum was awake ?

Mc Garrett excused himself to call Juliet, he was worried about her too, he was aware that she was supposed to meet her father today, and he knew from Harry’s experience that it wasn’t a good thing.

When he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, he picked up right away, he listened to Juliet’s housekeeper for a few seconds and replied : « Call detective Katsumoto, I’m coming right now ! »

*******************************************************************************************************************

Lord Higgins was beyond furious, he wasn’t used to such attitude coming from Juliet, absolutely nobody was allowed to raise their voice in front of him.

« Now you’d better watch your tone young lady, I won’t tolerate this behaviour coming from you, hurt or not ! My lawers will deal with HPD and their case, you go pack your things, we’re going back to London ! »

Juliet was livid, she knew that if she left Hawaii with her father, there’s no way she would be able to see Magnum ever again.

Her father won’t allow it.

« I’m not leaving ! »

Lord Higgins took a step forward and whispered menacingly « I beg your pardon ? »

« I am not leaving ! Why do you even want me back in London ? I’m an embarassment for you ! You don’t care about me, just let me here by myself ! » Juliet was so scared of leaving that she was begging now, and she hated it, but the idea of never seeing Magnum again was unbearable .

« Do you really think that I don’t know why you don’t want to leave this island ? Do you really take me for an idiot Juliet ? You can pretend to be utterly traumatized in front of everyone, but I know that you have a boyfriend here ! So stop making a scene and act like a victim because it won’t work with me ! »

The icy tone of her father made Juliet flinched, she knew it was over, talking to him was pointless, she really was nothing to him.

« Why do you hate me this much ? What did I ever do to you ? Is it because of Mom ? Because of what she did ? »

This time, it was his turn to flinch, for the first time in all her life, Juliet had the impression that she made a chink in her father’s armour.

« Even if she doesn’t remember me, even if you asked Mrs Gray to keep me away from her, I still talk to her you know…..She thinks she’s still seventeen, and she’s waiting for the love of her life to take her away from this prison…..Do you know who is the love of her life, Father ? »

« Shut up Juliet ! I swear to god … » Lord Higgins took another step forward, clenching his fist with rage.

« It’s Harry ! She only talked about Harry ! This why you hated him so much ! This is why you sent us far away from London ! You wanted to keep us away from him ! » 

She screamed at him with tears in her eyes, for once she wanted to hurt him as much as he hurt her, and her father slapped her so hard that she fell to the floor with the taste of blood filling her mouth.

At the same time, Mc Garrett bursted through the door and punched Lord Higgins hard enough to send him flying through the room, he crouched down to help Juliet to her feet checking if she was alright.

« Are you okay Kiddo ? What did that bastard do to you ? » 

Mc Garrett gently cupped her cheek to look at the bruise already forming on her face, with concerned eyes.

Clenching his jaw with burning anger, he turned around to grab Lord Higgins on the floor and slammed him against the wall to handcuffed him. « Edward Higgins you’re under arrest for assault and battery on a minor… »

Juliet watched in shock Mc Garrett taking her father outside, while he was screaming at her : « It doesn’t change anything Juliet ! You are mine Juliet ! Mine ! »

Mrs Gray closed the door in his face, cutting short his fit of rage, she took Juliet’s hand and asked with a gentle smile : « Are you ready to go to hospital ? »

Juliet bit her bruised lip : « I’m fine, it’s nothing, I'm used to it… » Mrs Gray bit her lip with guilt gnawing at her, 'used to it' you shouldn't be used to it. 

« No sweetheart, I’m asking you if you want to see sir Thomas. »

Juliet laughed at her housekeeper, she thought it was cute the way she was calling Magnum ‘sir Thomas’, he would have love that. She gave the older woman a smile, that didn't reach her eyes. 

« He’s awake Lady Juliet, he just woke up from his coma. »

Juliet let out a sob, clasping her hand over her mouth, trying to control her emotions.

She couldn't believe that Magnum was awake, he was fine ! he was really fine !

Mrs Gray took her in her arms, gently rubbing her back, while she cried with her face burried in her neck, « It’s okay now, everything will be okay Juliet. Your father won't hurt you anymore, now it's time to heal and move on. Everything is going to change now. »


	19. The truth

The ride to hospital went by in a blur, Juliet didn’t remember getting in the car, or talking to detective Katsumoto, she moved on autopilot not really aware of her surroundings.

She let him take pictures of the new bruise on her face, he explained to her how he and Mc Garrett were going to prosecute her father, but she couldn’t focus on what was happening at the moment, the only thing she was thinking about was Magnum.

She completely forgot how bad this day had started for her, she just wanted to see him, hold his hand, feel his heart beating under her palm.

Juliet just needed him to be okay, everything else didn’t matter, not Richard, not her father, if Magnum was alright, she was ready to endure anything.

Katsumoto guided her toward the I.C.U, she was dying to be finally reunited with him, but she stopped in her tracks, when she saw Kumu leaving his room.

Juliet couldn’t stop herself from feeling guilty, Magnum got hurt because of her, he almost died to save her, how could she look at Kumu in the eyes, knowing she was responsible for his miserable state.

Kumu took a few steps toward her to welcome her in a warm embrace : « Juliet sweetheart ! I’m so glad that you are okay ! Did you talk to your father ? » 

When she noticed the new bruise on her cheek, she looked into Juliet’s eyes and gently stroked her swollen cheek, « My poor baby girl, I am so sorry it went that way, do you want me to curse him ? I can do it you know, I could send the Huaka’ipo to get his sorry ass straight to hell ! »

Juliet laughed at her words, Kumu managed to make her smile even when she felt so sad and guilty inside.

« You’re not mad at me ? » Asked Juliet with worry in her eyes.

« Of course not ! Why would I be mad at you ? You didn’t do anything wrong, don’t listen to your father, the only culprits to blame are in jail or dead ! None of this is your fault sweetheart ! » Replied Kumu.

« Now go inside, someone is driving everyone crazy because he missed you so much, he can barely talk because of the oxygen mask, but he kept writing your name over and over, and repeatedly asking when ? When are you coming to see him ? Robin just gave up talking to him and went home to rest because he kept asking about you….I think he was a little jaleous that you were the only one on his mind, poor Mr Masters. »

Juliet laughed with Kumu, she was so relieved that she didn’t destroy their friendship over what happened with Pryce, Magnum had such a wonderful family, she will probably never know how it felt to be loved that way.

She let out a sigh of relief, closing her eyes to finally breath normally, she had the impression that she was slowly suffocating since she talked to her father this morning, and just after a few words with Kumu, she felt like a huge weight was lift from her shoulders.

She left Kumu to go inside Magnum’s room, he was sound asleep, surrounded by all sorts of machines monitoring him, his bruised face was pale and swollen, there wasn’t a place on his body that wasn’t hurt or covered with bandages.

The guilt came back crawling in her mind, she sat down next to him slowly grazing his cold hand, silently waiting for him to come back to her.

************************************************************************************************

\- Katsumoto : « Are you sure about this ? »  
\- Mc Garrett : « Oh yeah, that dirtbag had it coming ! »

Katsumoto knew what the navy seal was planning to do, and he was a little concerned about the repercussions, unlike him, he didn’t have many relations to back him up if Lord Higgins decided to sue them all, and he really wanted to keep his job.

Of course he hated the guy for what he had done to his own daughter through the years, as a father he couldn’t imagine treating his own child this way.

But right now, he needed to be sure that Mc Garrett’s plan wasn’t going to backfire on them.

\- Mc Garrett : « Don’t worry Katsumoto, I had everything covered. »

On those last words, Steve opened the interrogation room’s door and sat in front of Juliet’s father with a smug smile.

The english lord wasted no time and yelled at Mc Garrett showing him his handcuffs painfully restraining him to the table : « I will sue you and all your department for this ! Do you have any idea of you are dealing with ! When I’m done with you, you will beg for my forgiveness, I will ruin your life for this ! »

Mc Garrett didn’t even grace him with an answer and just throw some files on the table, completely unfazed by the english lord’s threats.

Juliet’s father took a while to read the files, and when he was done, he was paler than death itself.

« What is it Eddy ? You’re running out of threats ? Or maybe you want to beat me like you did with your daughter ? It’s a little more complicated when you have an adult against you, right ? You know what I hate more than anything in this world ? It’s men like you, who enjoy abusing their own children. What kind of sick fuck are you, to blame your own daughter because she got tortured and raped by a serial killer ? »

Lord Higgins didn’t even look at Mc Garrett, he kept his eyes riveted on the files in front of him. « It’s impossible, my family would never agree to all of this, those documents are fake ! I don’t believe you, I want my lawyers right now ! »

« Oh these are totally legit Eddy, you thought you were above everybody else, you thought you were so powerful that you could get away with anything, but I’m sorry to disappoint you, but you will suffer the consequences of your abuses on your daughter. »

Lord Higgins suddenly threw away the files in a fit of rage : « This is not happening ! Not on my watch ! I won’t allow it ! I won’t let this little whore ruin my life like her mother did, she’s not even mine ! »

« Oh now, she’s not your daughter anymore ? » Asked Mc Garrett.

« No she’s not, she’s the bastard daughter of my wife with a cop like you ! No wonder she found herself in this situation, like I said to her, Juliet desserved all the pain and the shame that Pryce inflincted on her, she’ll probably end up as crazy as her mother ! »

Mc Garrett put his phone on the table, for Lord Higgins to see who was on the video conference.

The english man discovered in horror, his older brother looking straight at him with disdain in his eyes.

« Did you hear that lord Jonathan Higgins ? » asked Mc Garrett with a smile.

« I heard Commander, thank you for helping me clear this situation, I will report all of this to our mother, the Duchess will deal with our brother as I previously explained in the documents we sent you, the Higgins family won’t tolerate any abuse, physical or psychological, toward any children, ours or not, it’s part of our family creed, whoever broke this law will be disavowed and stripped from their titles and possessions. My brother is in your hands, you are free to prosecute him for his crime, if not, he will be prosecuted when he will be back in London. I am really sorry for all the pain and abuse he inflincted on my niece, and the troubles he caused to you. »

« You don’t have to apologize Lord Higgins, your brother will get what he desserve, I’ll make sure of it, and for your information, Juliet is a real Higgins. Scotland yard had tested her in London, like all the officers working on her case, she is not Harry Langford’s daughter, Sarah Higgins had never cheated on your brother, even if she was in love with Harry, she had never been unfaithful. Your brother had hurt her for nothing, all his suspiscions were wrong. »

Edward Higgins was baffled by the revelations he just heard, he was so sure that his wife had an affair, it couldn’t be true, they were lying.

« I don’t believe you ! You’re lying ! Sarah kept talking about him since she got sick ! She called him the love of her life ! »

Mc Garrett stood up to leave, but before, he let Katsumoto bring a T.V in the room.

« I won’t loose my time trying to explain to you how to behave like a descent human being, I don’t think you’re capable of that ! I just want you to see what you refused to understand for years, about the pain your daughter went through. You avoided talking to her, or to her doctors, you refused giving her the support she needed, you let your own child deal with all her traumas by herself ! Now you will see what Pryce really did to her ! »

Mc Garret turned the T.V on, to let Juliet’s father discover the horrific videos that Richard filmed, while Pryce was torturing and assaulting his daughter.

« Please…turn this off…I’m begging you…. » Edward Higgins felt the bile rose in throat, he was going to be sick.

Mc Garrett screamed at him : « This is not an horror movie ! This reality ! This is what your daughter went through by herself, when you refused to take care of her ! And who is she calling for help Eddy ? WHO ? »

« ME ! SHE’S CALLING AFTER ME ! » Edward sobbed, hiding his face in his hands, he couldn’t watch those gruesome images on the screen, but Juliet’s cries were going to haunt him for a long time.

Mc Garrett and Katsumoto left him with the video on, they closed the door on the sobbing man.

If Juliet had survive this, her father would too, and he will have to face what he did to her for so long.


	20. Bloody cherry

The first thing Magnum saw when he opened his eyes, was an ocean of blond curls spread on his pillow, in beautiful golden waves.

He was mesmerized by the silky strands, slowly moving to the rythm of her breath. The fresh perfume of roses and jasmin in her floral shampoo, was a nice change from the smell of the hospital’s antiseptic. 

He wanted to touch her, to stroke her bruised face, to erase the slight frown on her forehead, but he was afraid of waking her up, from her so needed slumber. The dark circles under her eyes were evidences of how exhausted she was, and the toll of the recent events were written all over her tired face.

Juliet was sound asleep on his bed with her fingers intertwined with his, holding onto him like she wanted to be sure that he was really here, safe and sound, and not trapped in one of her many nightmares, fighting monsters with way too familiar human faces.

She squeezed his hand tightly, growing more and more restless, mumbling unintelligible words in her sleep, until she finally opened her eyes.

Magnum gave her his signature boyish grin and muttered with a gravely and weak voice « Mornin’ Higgy. »

She answered him with a blinding smile, she brought his hand close to her lips to kiss his palm, and hold it against her warm cheek : « Thank god you’re okay, you have no idea of how scared I was, I thought I lost you. »

« M’fine… » Replied Magnum with a raspy voice, his speech was still a bit slurred, and his body felt limp and weak, but he was happy, even if he knew that moving forward after all the horror they went through was going to be difficult, he was optimistic about their future, everything was going to be okay.

***************************************************************************************

Magnum thought that going back to school, after being stuck for nearly a month in hospital was a blessing, at least he thought it was, for what ? Five minutes ?  
Now….He wasn’t so sure anymore.

Walking down those long corridors was like going back to the asylum where he and Juliet were detained.

Any closed door he came across, seemed oddly threatening, he felt like behind each one of them, were hidden some of Pryce’s goons, ready to jump him to get their revenge.

Magnum really didn’t want to freak out in the middle of the hallway, he stopped walking to try to calm down and get his breathing under control, but his body and his mind refused to cooperate.

The image of the dead guard, with a knife stuck in his throat was burnt in his retinas, he could smell the blood escaping from his sliced neck, the gruesome gurgled sound coming from his mouth was deafening.

Bathroom……He needed to go to the bathroom right now, before embarassing himself and collapsing in the middle of the corridor.

The walls around him kept spining, he was so lost in his vivid nightmare that he didn’t notice the person coming toward him, with a worried look in her eyes.

A small and warm hand gently squeezed his clenched fist :  
« 1…2…3…..Thomas ? » He knew that voice.  
« 4…5…6…..Open your eyes and breath for me, Please. » british accent, his fist started to unclenched.  
« 7…8…9……You’re safe Thomas, I promised, I’m with you and everything is fine, we are both fine. » He slowly opened his eyes to see her gentle smile and he finally replied : « 10. »  
Juliet…..It was Juliet, he felt the tension leave his body, he could breath normally again. 

She brought him back to reality, no asylum, no zombie guards, no serial killer, he repeated her words like a mantra in his mind, he was fine, he was safe with her. 

Higgy was his anchor, a beacon in the night of his dark mind, she made him feel stronger, the love he could see in her eyes was the best therapy in the world.

Juliet rose on her tiptoes to kiss his lips, a small chaste little peck first, to test the water, to see if he really was okay with this.  
When she noticed the desire in his eyes, she deepened the kiss by sliding her tongue in his mouth, teasing his upper lip.  
She put her arms around his neck to bring him closer, slowly mapping the inside of his mouth, fusing their lips together in a more sensual kiss.

In retaliation, Magnum grabbed the back of her head to push himself against her warm and slender body, he moaned in pleasure forgetting where he was, the feel of her soft breast pressed against the hard muscles of his torso was exhilarating.  
Thomas lost himself in their kiss with ecstasy, not seeing the icy blue stare of Abby, glaring at them and dying with hate and jaleousy.

*******************************************************************************************

Abby was fuming, never in her life someone had ever pissed her of like this. 

Thomas was hers, and she couldn’t understand how that ugly little brit managed to steal him away from her.

Seeing Thomas languorously kissing Juliet in the middle of the hallway, for everyone to notice, was an unbearable eyesore for Abby.  
It was like they wanted to show to everybody, how fast he got over her, like she had been nothing to him from the get go, like a slap to her face.

She was the queen in this place, and there’s no way she was going to let Juliet get away with this.

She needed a lesson, and Abby already knew how to deal with miss prissy Mary Poppins « I’m very fragile and traumatized, but I can still make out with someone else’s boyfriend, in front of the whole high school ».

Abby watched Magnum and Juliet leave for sports class, Thomas following her and carrying her books like a lovesick puppy. They were ridiculously in love, and it was so painful to watch.

Abby gritted her teeth so hard that her jaw started to ache, she couldn’t stand the way he looked at her.  
When they were together, she had never seen even a glint of the adoration, he directed toward Juliet right now.

Abby knew what she had to do, Juliet started this war by stealing her boyfriend, she was going to pay for the humiliation she inflicted on her.

**************************************************************************************

Juliet was running toward her locker, she forgot her chemistry book and the teacher was nice enough to let her retrieve it.

Lately she was so easily distracted between her phobias and Magnum’s panic attacks, she couldn’t concentrate on anything but him.

She felt so guilty for his PTSD, when she met him he was so happy and carefree, now he was plagued with nightmares because of her.

Most of the time she could easily get him out of his trance, but it was so painful to see him so helpless and scared, each time she noticed his eyes going blank, she knew he was back in the asylum, battling monsters in his mind.

The first thing Juliet saw when she arrived in front of her locker, was the angry red letters tainting the metal door.  
‘Murderer’ was written in dark red smudges, slowly dripping on the floor in long burgundy streams, it look like someone had used his bloody fingers to taunt her.

Blood….Juliet hated it so much, it kept reviving so many morbid and disturbing memories.

Just one drop of the dark red sticky fluid, could bring her back in this cold manor, where Pryce abused and destroy her innocence.

She just wanted to heal, why couldn’t they let her heal after everything she went through, she was so tired of being hurt all the time, she didn’t want to bleed anymore, no more blood, please no more blood. 

« Juliet ? » Tani was looking at her, slightly alarmed by the amount of red on her hands. « Oh my god ! Are you hurt ? »

« No…. It’s not mine. » Juliet held her trembling red hands in front of her, she dirtied them by trying to erased the ugly letters on the metal door. « Someone wrote ‘murderer’ on my locker. » replied Juliet confused, she didn’t understand why people kept being so cruel toward her, what did she do to deserve this.

« Come on, let’s get you clean up, okay ? Come with me » Tani guided her toward the bathroom, she was furious, the culprit didn’t know how stupid and suicidal, it was to hurt one of her friend.  
That fucker was going to get his ass kicked, she was going to make sure that he wasn’t going to get away with it.

After barely escaping death, Juliet didn’t need to deal with this kind of bullying bullshit.  
She knew how guilty she already felt because of Pryce and her father, she didn’t need a reminder of what happened in the asylum, taunting her about it was unfair and cruel.

Higgins was srubbing her hands in vain, the red smudges refused to be washed away, she could hear her father’s voice in her head ‘murderer’, she had the bloody hands of a ‘murderer’.

« Juliet ? Juliet Please, stop scrubbing your hands, you’re gonna hurt yourself. » Asked Tani with a worried look. « It’s nail polish, you won’t get rid of it like that, I’m gonna get some mild solvent okay ? Stay here and wait for me. »

Not waiting for a answer Tani left Juliet alone in the bathroom, she needed to get the nail polish remover fast, before she would definitly damage the skin of her hands.

Juliet was so focused on the dark red spots on her fingers, that she didn’t notice the two persons stepping into the bathroom with her.  
Abby and another boy from the football team were standing there, watching her struggling, sneering at her, taking pleasure in witnessing her distress.

« What’is it Juliet ? Can’t get rid of the blood on your hands ? Do you really think that people don’t know that you brought this serial killer here ? The only reason nobody said anything about it, is because they like Thomas, and the fact that you are friend with Icepick’s son. »

« WHAT ? You didn’t tell me this ! I don’t want any trouble with Rick ! Are you crazy ? »

« Don’t worry Jack, she won’t tell anybody, she doesn’t want anyone to get hurt because of her, right Juliet ? You already have so much blood on your hand. » Replied Abby with a cruel smile, she pushed Jack in front of her, directing him toward Juliet, like an attack dog.

« We’re here to give you a little lesson in humility, to teach you to stay at your place, when he’ll be done with you, you’re gonna leave this island for good, and never come back bitch. » Said Abby while the football player clenched his fist, preparing himself to hurt the young girl.

Juliet gave up on trying to wash her hands, to look at the two teenagers.

She slowly turned around to stare at them, her head tilted on the side, gauging the situation.

She smiled at the two students, defiantly daring them to make the first move.

Abby was slightly puzzled to see how unfazed she was by the threat, there was definitly something scary and disturbing in the way she was smiling at them.

Her friend Jack on the other hand, wasn’t smart enough to guess that his opponent wasn’t some random defenseless girl.  
He took a step forward to grab Juliet by her shirt, he pulled her hard against him, raising his fist to punch her in the face.

Juliet was small but way faster than him, she easily dodged the punch to kick him in the balls, hard enough to make him double over, creating an opening for her to grab him by his hair, and violently threw his head against the bathroom sink, once, twice, until Jack fell unconscious on the cold tiles.

Sensing how bad things where going to end for her, Abby tried to run for he door, but Juliet caught her by her long ponytail before she could escape, and pull her back hard enough to make her stumble on the bathroom floor.

She twisted her arm and bent her down in front of the toilet, pushing her down until her face was dangerously close to the dirty water.

Terrified Abby started to sob : « Please, please, I ‘m sorry, I won’t bother you anymore, I swear. »

Juliet ignored her and twisted her arms even further making Abby howled in agony, whispering in her hear : « ssshhhhhh…..I don’t want to hear a single sound coming from you Abby, if I hear a single cry, I will twist your arm until it break, do you hear me ? Nod if you understand. » 

Abby nodded vehemently like her life depended on it.

« See, it’s not difficult, the reason I don’t want to hear anything from you is because I know you’re a liar, and I really don’t care about what you think, or what you have to say. I just want you, for once in your life, to just listen and shut up ! » ordered Juliet quietly, in a low and menacing voice.

« Do you know how long it take for fingernails to regrow after being ripped of ? »

Abby’s eyes went huge when she heard the question, her whole body started to shake, wrecked by pure terror, she had never felt so scared in her secure and overprotected life, this was the first time that she lost control over her body and mind, Juliet’s low and cold voice resonating in her hear.

« Usually it’s 2 or 3 months after an accident….you see Abby, the thing is, Pryce didn’t accidently ripped them, he took his time to tear them off my fingers with pliers. You have no idea, how much it hurt, I screamed so hard when he tore the first one off, I thought I was going to loose my mind, and then he ripped every single one of them. »

Juliet could see Abby tears falling into the toilet, she bit her lip, feeling horrible to make her cry like this, but she needed to understand that she wasn’t going to let anyone hurt her anymore, not some jaleous ex girlfriend, not some jerk stupid enough to think that size was everything in a fight, not anyone ever.

« It took 6 months for my fingernails to regrow Abby, 6 months ! Pryce did so much damage on my fingers that my doctors were worried about nerve damage and loss of sensation, I struggled for so long in hospital, you have no idea of the hell I went through. And you thought you could bully me ! ME ! I’ve been fighting for my life since I’m fourteen years old, and I survived through it all by myself ! I won’t take any lesson from anyone ! Specially not coming from you ! You on the other hand I could teach you a thing or two about pain…. »

Abby was shaking so hard, Juliet could hear her teeth clattering, she looked like she was going into shock.

Juliet finally released the cheerleader and let her arm down, she watched her backing away from her, with a terrified look in her eyes, holding her painful arm against her chest.

Juliet crouched down to take Abby’s fingers in her hand admiring her perfect manicure. 

« That’s a very nice color Abby, see ! it match with the red on my hand. What color is this Abby ? You can talk now. »

Abby answered with a trembling voice, her eyes glued on the floor : « Cherry, it’s dark cherry red. »

Juliet gave her a frightening smile and whispered very close to her face, invading her personal space : « Cherry ? That is so pretty ! Thanks for your help, I think you unintentionally cured me from my phobia. Maybe confronting the things that scares you the most is really an efficient way to overcome your fear. Seriously, I’m glad we had this discussion….. Call the nurse for your friend, I have some shopping to do, I think I’m going to buy some nail polish........See you soon Abby.... »

Higgins stood up and left the two bullies defeated on the floor, she closed the door on a petrified Abby, who only started to sob when she couldn’t see her anymore.

Juliet finally sighed in relief, letting out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. She wasn’t scared anymore, she knew that she could fight and win. 

Things were definitly going to change for her, she only needed to help Thomas through his ordeal.

After everything he did for her, this time, she was the one who was going to give him the support he needed. It was her turn to protect and take care of him.

The bell rang in the corridor, letting students leave their classes, it was too late for chemistry anyway, she ran to meet Tani who was coming toward her with a worried look on her face.

Juliet gave her a blinding smile in return, her friends didn’t need to be worried about her anymore, she really was going to be okay.


	21. Loving Juliet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everybody ! So it's my first time writing smut, so forgive me for all the mistakes, I just wanted to give to my too love birds a special moment before the epilogue !  
> Next chapter will be the end for this fic, I hope you enjoyed this long ride as much as I did !

It’s been a year since their ordeal with Pryce, and Juliet felt like it was such a long time ago, that they managed to escape ‘the hell mansion’, like Magnum used to call it. 

She felt so different from the shy, introvert girl who couldn’t stand up for herself before meeting Thomas, even if it was a long and painful transformation, she didn’t mind being this more confident new Juliet.

Thomas and her had changed so much since they left, barely alive, the asylum where that psychopath had tried to kill them.

It was a harrowing process, but in the end, they became stronger and grew closer to each other.

Thomas was more comfortable in his relationship with Robin, even calling him dad from time to time, and not only after a vivid and terrifying nightmare, when the writer would come to appease him.

He knew now, that Robin wasn’t going to get rid of him if he messed up in a way or another.  
They were family, not just because of a promise Robin made to his dad, but because he really loved him like a son, he will be there for him until the end.

Juliet on the other hand wasn’t so lucky, her father had left her alone after being prosecuted for psychological and physical abuse on his daughter.  
Her grandmother had shown no mercy toward her son, who was now living alone in an flat in London, with no castle, no title, no staff to bully.

He turned himself into the black sheep of the family, his reputation of being an abusive father and husband, following him everywhere.

Juliet was still sad about the way things ended between them, she wished he would, at least, try to reconcile with her, but he simply erased her from his life, and stayed stuck in his dark mind, unable to move forward.

Her grandmother, a very energetic and strong woman, was now her guardian. The duchess felt so guilty for not being there for her when she needed her the most, so she shamelessly doted on her grandchild trying to make up for years of misery.

*****************************************************************************************************

It was her last year on the island before leaving for college, and Juliet didn’t want to spend the time she had left crying, because Thomas and her won’t be able to see each other everyday. She wanted to fully enjoy her time with him, but there was only one thing she needed to overcome first.

« Are you sure about this ? » Whispered Thomas in her hear, he was so close that she could feel his warm breath against her skin, making her shiver with anticipation.

Nestled between her leg, Magnum peppered small kisses in her neck, and slowly ondulated his hips forward, to make her feel how hard he already was.

If he ever felt, even a glint of tension from her, Thomas was ready to back of. He didn’t want to push her into anything she wasn’t ready for.

They tried so many times to be intimate before, and each time, full penetration was the limit. Thomas had a hard time forgetting the look of distress in her eyes, as she was plagued with horrifying flash backs, he really didn't want to make her cry ever again.

He managed to make her come, with his mouth and fingers, while she was gripping and pulling his hair so tight it hurt, but he didn't mind the pain if he knew that pleasure was on the other side for her. He thought it was a little ache to endure, to give her the completion she deserve, savouring the fact that he was the first one to give her an orgasm.

He would never forget the scream of ecstasy she let out, as she came for the very first time of her life.  
It was his name on her lips when her body was wrecked with powerful waves of pleasure, it was his name she whispered while she slowly recovered, her hips still quivering with bliss.

She was so embarassed afterward, blushing profusely because of the way he made her totally loose control of her body and mind, he made her forget for an instant, all the fears and traumas plaguing her life until now.

Lying on top of her, Magnum silently searched her eyes for any traces of doubt or discomfort, his fingers slowly stroking her blond curls out of her face, he was happy to only see desire burning in her dilated pupils, hidden behind her long lashes.

Juliet brought him down to give him a slow and sensual kiss, chasing all his worries away, « I’m sure, I want you, I want this… » She punctuated each sentence with a kiss, grabbing his already hard member in his boxers to gently stroke him, encouraging him to take her.

Magnum groaned with pleasure against her neck, he slowly pushed her arms above her head to make her stop her ministrations, if she continued like this, it was going to end way too early for his own taste.

He let a trail of small kisses along her arms, descending toward her quivering chest.  
Thomas caught the delicate ivory lace of her bra between his teeth, to free a round and pale breast.

He gently teased her nipple into hardness with the tip of this tongue, making her mewl shamelessly when he started to suck onto it eagerly.

Juliet tenderly ran her fingers through his hair, to encourage him to give her left side the same leisure treatment, while he hooked his arms under her knees to spread her legs wider.

Magnum’s hands slowly wandered toward her hot center, gently caressing the warm skin of her thighs. He pushed her lacy panties on the side, to only stopped his descent, his face just above her delicate folds.

He was so close, she could feel his hot breath teasing her sensitive center. Thomas took his time, slowly grazing the inside of her thighs with his lips, secretly enjoying the way he could make her squirm on the bed with desire ..

With a wanton look, she guided him toward her shivering core, knowing what she wanted, Magnum gave her a devilish grin locking his sight with hers, and bent down to lick her from her entrance to her clit, in a long, slow, burning stroke of his tongue.

Higgins cried out at the exquisite feeling of his mouth against her hot center, her hips bucked upward when he slid his tongue inside of her, thrusting slowly in and out, with his teeth gently grazing her clit.

Magnum gripped her firm ass with both hands, nearly lifting her from the bed, to suck onto her bundle of nerves, more eagerly.

Panting heavily, Juliet tightened her grip in his hair, pressing him down against her to tell him she was close, she whispered his name out of breath, when he pushed one, then two fingers inside of her, mercilessly pistonning them in and out, until she came with a loud moan.

Magnum lapped her sweet juice while she finished riding the waves of her climax, slowly sliding his tongue between her quivering folds.

He left a trail of small kisses on Juliet's skin while he stripped her down from her panties, abandonning them on the floor next to his boxers with the rest of their forsaken clothes.

Juliet, still recovering from her release, tried to clumsily remove her bra. Magnum pushed himself up to help her, guiding her trembling hands, and kissed her rosy fevered cheek, whispering how beautiful she was in her ear. 

Magnum was aware of how nervous she was, even if it wasn't their first time together, he wanted her to know that he would never stop loving her, even if they never go any further. 

He brought her hands to his lips to gently kiss her delicate fingers, he put them above his heart to show her how fast it was beating just because of her. 

She brought him closer to give him a languorous kiss, enjoying the sinful taste of herself on his swollen lips.  
She brushed his silky hair away from his face, slowly massaging his scalp, elliciting a moan of pleasure from him.

Magnum nudged her legs apart to position himself between her thighs, making her feel his erection sliding against her entrance, creating a delicious friction while he was slowly kissing her. 

« Are you ready ? » he whispered with a rough voice, he searched her eyes for any sign of doubt or concern, and only saw fevered desire.

He brought their forehead together, still worried about her, he continued « we can stop whenever you want. » She shook her head vehemently and replied « I want you, I love you... »  
She made his heart race with those simple words, he tenderly kissed her in response « I love you too Juliet, I just don’t want to hurt you, I don’t care if we never go all the way, I just want to be with you. »

Juliet closed her eyes, to whisper in his ear « I know, I want this, just… »  
« I’ll be gentle » he muttered locking his sight with hers., '' Just tell me what you want, you're the one in command. '' 

‘God she loved him so much !’ It was always him pleasuring her, each time they were intimate, he took care of her, showing her how to reach ecstasy, but now she wanted to be the one pleasuring him, she wanted to be the one making him scream her name passionately.

Juliet grabbed his muscular ass with both hands to pull him toward her. Magnum let her control the pace and guided his hard member at her wet entrance, slowly pushing into her warmth, breaching her.

She was so tight that he had to stop, too overwhelmed with the sensation, she felt so good around him, that he was afraid to come right away.

Juliet bit her lip hard, trying not to panic, she couldn’t stop the flash back slowly crawling in her mind, her breath caught in her throat, and her heart started to race, beating hard and fast, making her tremble nervously.

Sensing her distress, Magnum slowly grazed her cheek with his fingers, and whispered : « open your eyes Higgy…pleased, look at me…it’s me Thomas » He gently kissed each eyelid, encouraging her to open her eyes, tenderly caressing her face until she finally look at him.

Hearing the familiar nickname brought her back to reality, she was in Magnum’s room, in Robin’s nest, she was safe with him.

Thomas started to withdraw out of her, but Juliet grabbed his hips to stop him. « Stay, please stay, don’t give up on me, please… »  
Magnum’s heart broke at her words « I’m not giving up on you, but I told you, I don’t want to hurt you, we don’t have to do it if you’re not ready »

Juliet didn’t let him finish and interrupt him « I am ready, I am, just…... .just go slow »

« Are you sure ? » Asked Thomas still worried.

Juliet smiled at him and brought him closer to give him a passionate kiss. « Go on, I want to feel all of you »

Magnum complied by slowly pushing into her, until he was completely buried deep inside of her.  
Seeing the pain on her face, Thomas slid his hand between them and brushed her clit, slowly circling it, pressing on the little bundle of nerves with the pad of his thumb, until her face relaxed, making her groan with pleasure.

Juliet had never felt so full in her life, Thomas stopped moving to let her adjust to his size, peppering small kisses on her face and in her neck.

« You feel so good Juliet, you’re amazing. » His words made her heart beat faster in a good way, she was the one pleasuring him, she was the one making him groan with pure bliss.

She kneaded his firm butt with both hands, to tell him he could go on.  
Magnum complied by starting a slow rythm in and out of her, his hands freely roaming on her flushed skin, massaging her breasts, teasing and gently pinching her nipples, making her arch her back with ectasy.

He licked and kissed her neck just under her ear, thoroughly sucking the sensitive skin until it bruised. Juliet didn't mind the hickeys, she was proud of being his, they were a suggestive reminder of how loved and cherished, she felt in his arms .

Juliet hooked her legs around his waist to bring him even closer, pushing her pelvis upward to meet his thrusts, as heat started to pool low in her belly.

They both enjoyed the slow rythm of his deep thrusts, leasurely moving in sink together on the bed, their fevered eyes locked together, gazing in each other's faces. 

Juliet cupped his cheeks to fuse their lips together in a burning kiss, teasing the inside of his mouth with her tongue at the same rythm of his hips. 

Thomas overwhelmed by the feel her tight walls squeezing him, and nearly pushing him over the edge, groaned in a rough voice : '' God ! You feel so good Higgy ! So fucking good ! '' .

Between moans of pleasure and fevered kisses, Higgins encouraged him to go harder and faster. 

Granting her wish, Thomas sank into her, even deeper, in powerful thrusts of his hips. Thrusting in and out of her, as he felt her climax starting to rise inside of her belly. 

Juliet brought him down to kiss him deeply, her hands tangled in his hair in a tight grip, while he pressed down on her clit, making her come with a guttural cry.

Magnum stared at her, mesmerized by the look of pure bliss on her flushed face, as her orgasm rushed through her in burning hot waves of pleasure.

He gently brushed her sweaty hair away from her forehead, waiting for her to reach the end of her climax. 

When she finally looked back at him, plunging her dark hazel eyes into his, he started to go after his own release, sharply snapping his hips and pushing his hard member into her still fluttering walls.

With a few quick powerful thrusts, he finally emptied himself deep inside of her, whispering her name, over and over, his face buried in the crook of her neck.

**************************************************************************************************************

The next morning, Juliet woke up first, with Thomas’s arms wrapped around her in a warm embrace.

She was happy, feeling comfortable against him, basking in the closeness of their bodies intertwined together, she wished they could stay like this forever.

She studied his peaceful and handsome face lightened by the sunrise, she slowly grazed his scalp with her fingers, letting them roam freely between his dark silky strands.

He was so beautiful with his messy dark hair caressing his handsome face, no worried lines on his forehead, no tension, no nightmare to disturb his peaceful slumber.

Juliet sighed, overwhelmed with all the love she felt for him, the soreness between her legs reminded her the wonderful memories of the previous night they shared together, making her blush with a smile.

She didn't think she could do it, everytime they tried before, she became so upset that Thomas had to stop right in the middle of their lovemaking, leaving her crushed with guilt, because she couldn't give him what he needed.

But Thomas, always the patient one, kept comforting her. telling her how much he loved her, that he didn't mind waiting for her, that he would never stop loving her anyway, that their relationship was way more important than sex.

Juliet sighed quietly, growing up was so hard and sometimes so painful, but she was relieved they could do it together, with him by her side, she was ready to move on without fear.


	22. Good bye

Higgins is leaving today….

Magnum thought that he was prepared to say good bye.  
He thought he could handle the pain of seeing her go far away from him.  
Back in England, in a prestigious college where she belong, surrounded by people as smart as her.  
Where she could meet someone more suited fo her, not an idiot like him, not the poor orphan who had chosen to enlist in the military instead of going to college.

But the truth was…..  
Magnum wasn’t ready to let her go.

Even for just a few months until winter break, he didn’t want to spend a single day without seeing her smile.  
He didn’t know when he could be free to see her again, and the uncertainty was killing him.

Juliet had been mad at him for choosing the navy seals’s life. 

She couldn’t understand why he refused Robin’s offer to pay for college for him, he didn’t need the money anyway, he even received full scholarship to go to university, but he wasn’t interested.

He really wanted to be a navy seals, he knew it was his destiny to be a soldier, he felt like he was made for it.

Juliet was scared of the dangers of the military career, she didn’t want to loose him, after everything they went through.  
Even if she understood his need to serve his country, and his desire to help people, she was terrified by the idea of him, risking his life everyday in a such dangerous line of work.  
She couldn’t imagine living her life without him.

Magnum missed her already, she was still right next to him, and yet, he felt like some invisible forces were pulling her away from him.

Her grandmother and her uncle Jonathan, came all the way from England, to help her get her things in order, before leaving definitively.

The duchess promised to let Juliet visit whenever she wanted, but Magnum still felt heartbroken seeing her giving the last of her bags to the flight attendant.

Juliet turned around to see his brooding expression, she cupped his face to reassure him, gently stroking his cheek : « This is not the end Magnum, only a few months to wait, before we’ll be together again. »

Thomas replied with a dejected look : « I know, but I can’t stop myself from feeling that I’m slowly loosing you. We’re going to be so far away from each other, anything could happened, you could meet someone else, someone better, someone smarter… someone more fitted to live in a castle with you and your family.»

Offended by his words, Juliet lightly slapped his arm to scold him : « I can’t believe you said something like this ! I would never pick anyone else over you ! Don’t you dare doubting me like this ever again ! You’re the only one for me ! The only one ! Do you hear me ?!!! » 

She brought they forehead together to whisper : « I fought so hard to be able to stay with you in Hawaii this last years, I struggled all my life to be able to choose my own path, and it’s not leading me away from you ! I just want to know who I really am, and I want to be able to stand up for myself in front of anyone, and I really hope you’ll understand that, and support me in my choice, I will be back ! I promised ! I love you, I can’t live without you ! » 

Juliet crushed his lips in a passionate kiss, holding him tight, in a warm embrace. 

Thomas brought her even closer with his arms around her waist, « God ! I’m gonna miss you so much ! » He muttered with his face buried in her neck.  
Thomas was dying to tell her about the dream he had when he was in a coma, but knowing how rationnal she was, he decided to keep his visions to himself.

He choosed to trust her, they will be back together, they will built their own family, it was them against the world, always fighting side by side, partners until the end….

Juliet put her hand over his racing heart, to feel its heartbeat one last time before leaving, trying to memorize its rythm, like a music following her even in her dreams. 

Thomas kissed her again, slowly grazing her lips with his, waiting for her to let him inside, making her melt in a burning kiss.  
Completely ignoring people around them, they fused their lips together, refusing to let go, knowing they were going to be separate from each other for a while, so the world could wait, for a few minutes of ecstasy.

When the private jet was finally up in the air, taking her away from the island, Juliet watched with tears in her eyes, her home, her family slowly fading away in the horizon.

************************************************************************************************************

Several years later….

Principal Tanaka couldn’t believe he was trapped again in this situation.

After the whole Pryce ordeal, he thought he would never see them again in his office.

Thomas Magnum and his beautiful wife Juliet Higgins Magnum were now in front of him, and he felt like, he was the one being scolded by angry parents, when he was supposed to be the one giving the lecture about fighting in school.

To be fair, Mrs Magnum was doing all the scolding by herself, slowly walking in circle around his desk like a lioness ready to pounce on him, while her husband sat there, slightly amused by the scene, giving him little hints of when he could talk and when he should really shut up, because his wife was about to rip his head of.

Why did he even accepted to take their kids in his Highschool anyway ? The moment he saw them, he should have guess that they were going to cause all kinds of troubles.

The younger boy was adorable, really, little Robin was the spitting image of his father, all dimples and chocolate brown eyes, he was a quiet and shy little genius, who easily jumped a few classes, to end up at barely eleven years old in the same class as his twins older brother and sister.

The twins on the other hand, were as boisterous as Magnum when he was young, Isabelle and Thomas shared his extravert personality and his sense of justice, always voluntering to help anyone in trouble.  
The two fifteen years old were good students and as smart as their mother, but their need to play hero in any situation was a constant thorn in his side.

« Did I made myself clear Principal Tanaka ? » asked a pissed of Juliet, her arms crossed over her chest, glaring at him with a raised eyebrow, the only thing missing was the nervous foot stamping on the floor.

« Yes Mrs Magnum, you were crystal clear, if anything happened to your kids under my responsibility, you will sue me and my whole family, even my ancestors, and you will involved the governor if you need to, until there’s noting left of me. »

Magnum laughed at his tired and dejected tone, the Principal was so done with his family, he remembered when Robin barged in this same office with a dozen of lawyers to threatened the same poor Mr Tanaka a few years ago.

Now he was doing the same thing, with Juliet, who was way scarier that the uptight lawyers.  
He winced when Juliet gave him a warning glare « It’s not funny Magnum ! »

« Sorry babe, It’s true Mr Tanaka, everything she said is true. » Juliet tilted her head to the side still glaring at him. « If you don’t want any trouble in your school, I suggest you do something about the amount of bullying going on here, instead of being constantly on my kids’s back. They’re good kids, you perfectly know it, and they shouldn’t have to fight to help their friends or to defend themselves, if you were actually doing your job. » continued Magnum until Juliet finally smiled at him, sastified with his words.

She turned around to focus back on the poor principal « I’m not paying for the broken nose’s medical bill and I won’t pay for the melted tyres either, if the parents are suing you or the school, I will gladly take care of them by myself, a meeting between that kid’s parents and us will be also apreciated. »  
Magnum was still amazed that his youngest son had managed to melt the four tyres of that bully's car with some product he made up in the school chemistry class. Sometimes his little boy could be as terrifying as his mother's.

Juliet waited for Mr Tanaka approval and left his office to see her children, the three of them were sitting quietly in the waiting room aside from the bully who started the fight.  
The siblings were anxiously waiting together, Tom had a protective arm around his sister’s shoulders, while she kept brushing the hair of little Robin’s head resting on her lap.

Juliet was glad to see how close they were, they had such a close-knit relationship, always together, even if they were so different, they had the kind of sibling’s connection she wished she had growing up.

The minute he saw her, Little Robin stood up and ran to hug her, she tenderly took him in her arms, running her fingers through the same dark silky strands he shared with his father, he was still so young, to Juliet he would always be her baby. 

The twins followed him right away, with worry all over their faces, her older son « Five » like Thomas liked to call him, went to his father’s side to talk to him quietly, while her young beautiful spitfire Isabelle explained to her the whole fight story.

Juliet attentively listened to her daughter, while gently brushing a rebellious strand of hair away from her face, Isabelle Beatrice Magnum looked so much like her, it was frightening. 

If her brothers shared their father's dark hair and laid back nature, Izzie had her long blond curls and hot temper. 

Juliet didn't need to teach her daughter to be strong and confident, even as a baby, she was such a cute little ball of energy, always dragging her twin brother in whatever mischief she had imagined.

Juliet knew that if Five let her get away with almost anything, in the end, without her noticing, he was always calling the shots, he was so serious about his big brother's role.

« He threw his book into the toilet, and then he pushed Robin hard enough to make him fell and hurt his head against the bathroom sink… we couldn’t let him get away with it ! Five was so angry, he broke his nose with one single punch, that idiot was out cold in a second, I guess it’s not so easy when you have someone your size in front of you. » Said Isabelle with anger in her voice.

Juliet could feel the bump on the side of her younger son’s head, making her blood boiled in her veins.

She saw red when the bully’s parents stepped into the waiting room, she immediately recognized the father, Jack…. It was the stupid jerk that had tried to assault her in the same bathroom a few years ago.

« Ooooh ! Isn’t it the charming Magnum family with their freaks kids ! » Sneered Jack when he saw them, if he was a big guy when he was sixteen, now he looked like a huge bear ready to attack.

He gave Juliet a once-over, apreciating her slender body wrapped in a knee length tight burgundy dress, ignoring his own wife standing right next to him. « If your husband is boring you, I can take care of you duchess, you still look hot as fuck ! »

When Magnum saw his wife clenched her fist, he knew that if he didn’t intervene right now, things were going to go south rapidly.

Juliet took a step toward Jack, ready to obliterate the guy, until Magnum stopped her with his strong arm around her waist, whispering in her ear : « Take the kids outside. »

Juliet still focused on Jack, replied without looking at him : « Why ? He hurt my baby ! » She was so angry, she wanted to tear Jack apart.

« I know, but look at Robin, he’s terrified, I think he needs his mother right now. » Magnum didn’t like to use the Robin card against Juliet, but he wanted his family safe to deal with Jack.

Juliet sighed, she felt guilty for loosing her temper so fast, while Magnum was so calm and aware of everyone in the room, sometimes it was scary the ways he was so observant, that no details could escaped him.

Juliet gave her husband a sensual kiss, and while she was wiping her dark red lipstick on his mouth, she whispered : « Kick his ass for me. »

Magnum watched his family leave and turned back his attention on jack.

He scrutinized him for a second and then completely ignored him to give a card to his wife : « This is the card of detective Gordon Katsumoto, you can contact him if your husband ever hurt you or your son again, he will make sure that HPD will arrest your husband and prosecute him for good » 

Magnum didn't missed the way she was afraid of her own husband, and the bruises she tried to hide under her long sleeves, if Five was responsible for her son's broken nose, he didn't put those old bruises on his face.

Jack furiously screamed at Magnum and grabbed him by his shirt to push him hard against the wall : « You little shit ! I’m gonna enjoy banging your wife when you will end up in hospital ! »

Magnum defiantly smiled at him, and when Jack raised his arm to punch him, Magnum kicked him in the knee cap making him howl in agony. He grabbed Jack’s head to bang it against the wall, hard enough to make a dent in it, and put him out of commission.

While Jack was on the floor seeing stars, Magnum crouched down next to him to whisper menacingly in his ear : « This is a message from my wife to you, ‘if you or your son, ever come close to our children again, she will come to your place, to slit all your arteries and watch you die slowly, bleeding out like a pig in your bed !’ And from what I see, nobody is going to miss you Jack ! »

Magnum punched him one last time, when he tried to move, breaking his nose for good measure.

He stood up to see his son waiting for him with a smug smile in the doorway.

« What are you doing here ? You were supposed to wait for me in the car. »

« What ? I‘m your back up ! » Replied Five with a boyish grin.

« You’re fifteen years old, you’re not my back up ! I’m the one protecting you, not the other way around. »

« Come on dad ! I can fight as good as you and Mom ! »

« I know kiddo, but your Mom and I are trying to make things easier for you and your siblings, and the last thing we want is for you to fight ! »

Five winced at his father’s tone, he rarely raised his voice, most of the time he was a laid back and funny dad, but Five could see that he was worried about them, he felt like he was missing something, that his parents were not telling him the whole story.

Magnum put a reassuring arm around his son’s shoulders : « I’m not mad at you, you did good. You protected your little brother, and for that I’m proud of you. »

Five gave him a warm smile in response and replied : « Thank you old man ! »

Magnum lightly swated him behind his head, laughing « Get in the car ! Ungrateful son ! »

He sat behind the wheel of the Ferrari Purosangue, where his family was waiting for him.

« I called Rick to tell him we’re having diner at la Mariana. Are you okay with it ? » Asked Juliet while she was studying his face to see if he was hurt.

« I’m fine….and it’s okay, diner at la Mariana then. » he replied with a smile, Juliet kissed his cheek and ran her fingers through his hair, checking for any bumps or bruises . Even after all this years she was still so in love with him.

Thanks to him, they were all fine, safe and happy.

They built their own family and even if it was a long and difficult road, they made it together and they finally got their happy ending.

Magnum started the powerful engine of the Ferrari SUV, while his kids were bickering about the music choice in the car, little Robin sitting between the twins was only interested by one of his many books, completely oblivious of his surroundings, Juliet gave Magnum a warm smile and squeezed his thigh to tell him they were ready to go, whatever the road he would choose, they will always be with him because they were family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This the end of this story ! I admit that I'm going to miss this little world I created, I hope you enjoyed my story as much as I did. Thank you for following me !  
> I almost forgot : Lady Beatrice knew that Juliet was having twins back in Higgins manor, she just wanted to give Magnum a little surprise !


End file.
